How Hampton helped Roberts back to form
Hawks’ two-goal star pays tribute to club he was recently on loan at
Rejuvenated James Roberts thanked Hampton & Richmond for helping him rediscover his best form after netting twice for the Hawks against the team he turned out for in a brief loan spell earlier this season.
Roberts, Hawks' summer signing from Oxford City, was experiencing a drop off in his personal performance level when manager Paul Doswell sent him out for a onemonth stint with the London borough club in February.
It's a move which appears to have done the attacker the world of good, with his double in play-off hopefuls Hawks' 3-0 win over Hampton at Westleigh Park at the weekend taking him to four goals in five outings for the club.
But after coming up against Gary McCann's Beavers side for the first time since his temporary stint with them, Roberts will not forget what they did to help him get back to the high standards he knows he can produce.
‘It's one of those ones where you play the game that's in front of you,’ Roberts said on facing Hampton.
‘I absolutely loved my time at Hampton - I made that clear when I came back (to Hawks from Hampton loan) - I was delighted to be back but, at the same time, I was so grateful to Hampton for the freedom they gave me to refind myself in what's been a really tough season.
‘It's always nice to get two goals, whoever it's against, but nothing but absolute respect to everyone at Hampton.
‘I'm the first to criticise myself, sometimes overly. It hasn't been the best season for me.
‘The number one rule is to work hard, which I'll always do, but the quality maybe hasn't been there at times I'm happy to admit that.
‘I think now we're starting to see the player who came here at the start of the season off the back of last year and hopefully we can push forward and grab that final play-off place.’
Roberts' double came in the space of four second-half minutes in the closing stages.
His double came after captain Joe Oastler had grabbed the opener - his seventh goal of the season - four minutes before the break.
The victory h e lped Doswell's men - who have only lost once in 13 NL South fixtures, and that was at Maidstone - open up a three-point gap between themselves and eighth-placed Chippenham with two games to play after the Wiltshire side were held to a 2-2 draw at fellow promotion-chasers Ebbsfleet United.
n Ex-Hawk Roarie Deacon was among the scorers as Maidstone clinched the NLS title with a 3-1 home win over Chelmsford City.
n Home form has been key to Hawks’ stunning charge from lower mid-table obscurity into the play-off zone - see page 52.