Friday 5th September 1997
Hampton 2 Croydon 2
ICIS Isthmian League Division 1
At: Beveree Stadium
Kick-off: 7-45 pm
Admission: £5; Programme: £1 (36 pages)
Attendance: 153
Weather; mild, dry
Tomorrow’s funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, forced a hasty rescheduling of fixtures and Hampton brought their home game against Croydon forward to this evening.
Going into the game, there was little to separate the two teams in the league table. Hampton (7 points from 5 games) stood in eight positions, two places higher on goal difference than visitors Croydon (7 points from 4 games).
Croydon attacked the near end in the first half and took the lead in the 29th minute. Willie Lillington got on the end of John Myatt’s free-kick from the right and scored with a downward header that slipped through keeper Mark Russell’s hands at the foot of the left-hand post.
Lillington doubled Croydon’s lead in the 40th minute. He received a harmless-looking throughball and rounded Russell before finishing with a low shot from the right-side of the area helped in my defender John Crouch.
A deep left-wing free-kick played forward from in front of the dugouts led to Hampton halving the deficit in the 69th minute. The ball was only partially cleared and Craig Reilly hit home a low shot from the edge of the area.
Hampton salvaged a point in the 81st minute with a goal from a harmless attack. Robin Lewis lifted the ball over the advancing keeper Andrew Little who had left his line to block.
This was my third visit to The Beveree Stadium to follow the two previous games I’d seen at the ground in February 1990 and September 1996.
Hampton (navy blue and red halves / white / navy blue): 1. Mark Russell, 2. Darren Powell, 3. John Crouch, 4. Bradley Pratt, 5. Danny Collyer, 6. Shaun Mitchell, 7. Craig Reilly, 8. Mark Biggins, 9. Robin Lewis, 10. Dave Pearce, 11. Peter Wood. Subs: 12. Paul Ford (not used), 14. Lyndon Buckwell (for Crouch, 72), 15. Roy Jellow (for Pratt, 66).
Croydon (white / white / sky blue and navy blue): 1. Andrew Little, 2. Mark Watkins, 3. Marc Crowe, 4. John Egan, 5. Andy Fisher, 6. Mark Harmsworth, 7. Ali Reeve, 8. Grant Watts, 9. Willie Lillington, 10. Ben Judge, 11. John Myatt. Subs: 12. Tim Hope (not used), 14. Mark Wiggins (for Reeve, 88), 15. Dave Aggent (not used).
Referee: P. R. MacPherson (Ilford).
Goals:
0-1 Willie Lillington (29)
0-2 Willie Lillington (40)
1-2 Craig Reilly (69)
2-2 Robin Lewis (81)
Cards:
Hampton: Darren Powell (YC, 57), Robin Lewis (YC, 90)
Croydon: John Myatt (YC, 43), Andy Fisher (YC, 51)<
