Those Were The Days; 31st March 2001

[Les1949]

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
31st March 2001
Isthmian (Ryman) League Premier Division
HRBFC 2 (Griffiths, Maskell) Purfleet 0 Att; 367

Michael Bertocchi (Eric Talbot); Dudley Gardner, Tony Houghton, Matt Flitter, Luke Dowling, Jason Shaw, Gary Holloway, Martin Carter, Jamie Morris (Fiston Manuella), Craig Maskell, Leroy Griffiths.
Unused Sub; Ryan Hillary.

Season 2000/01 in which Hampton used nine starting goalkeepers, of which several seldom lasted for one complete game – seemingly the most dangerous position in the Beavers team! Both teams were shorn of first team regulars; Purfleet missing Simpson, Carthy and Martin Buglione whilst the home side were lacking Dean Green, Warren Williams, Nick Burton, Peter Barnsby, Eric Talbot and Ronnie Girvan. Consequently, the game was described as ‘on the boring side’. No goals in the first half – the highlight being the argument between the two benches, Hampton’s Tony Coombe getting a yellow card, whilst Purfleet’s manager, Colin McBride was shown a red! However less than a minute into the second period it was Griffiths glancing in a header into the far corner, to open the scoring. The match subsided again into lethargic mode until the final minute when Maskell notched up his 24th goal with a left footed free kick into the far corner. The curse of the goalkeeper had already struck, as debutant Berlocchi went off ill, early in the second half – replaced by sub-keeper, Talbot!

The Old Historian