Farnham Town U18s 2-5 Hampton & RB U18s

[TW2-Beaver]

Farnham Town U18s 2-5 Hampton & RB U18s
Wednesday, 12th November 2025, 19:45
Isthmian Youth League, West Division

General Notes
A busy week of Hampton-related activity continued on Wednesday evening (12th November) as the Academy Under 18s side made the short journey down the M3 to visit Farnham Town for an Isthmian Youth League, West Division fixture. Monday evening had seen the Beavers Trust AGM held in the Beveree clubhouse; on Tuesday the first team visited Horsham; and tonight Tommy Rance and I (the only two Hamptonites to have attended all three events, I will note for vanity's sake) found ourselves in the car again, heading towards Sunbury Cross to meet Casey Jones, as we had done 24 hours earlier (no Ollie Palmer tonight though). A smooth journey saw us depart Sunbury at 18:45, exiting Junction 4 of the M3 onto the A331 at 19:10 and arriving into the charming Surrey market town of Farnham by 19:27, just about time to get our bearings before the 19:45 kick-off. Hampton supporter Robin Moseley arrived at Farnham Town's Memorial Ground shortly afterwards, with one of his friends, making it five Beavers fans behind the goal to cheer the youngsters on. Tommy Rance updated the academy's Twitter/X account during the game, while I spent my time glancing between the pitch and my mobile phone, trying to record the action, frequently requesting Tommy's narration and insight.

Pre Kick-off
Tonight's fixture was originally scheduled for Wednesday, 24th September but that game unfortunately had to be abandoned in the 88th minute following a medical incident involving Hampton's Paddy Maclaren. Thankfully he made a full recovery but the fixture was axed, with the home side leading 2-1 at the time. The two clubs agreed to replay it. Joel Doherty, who wore our Captain's armband that evening (and again tonight), had scored Hampton's only goal of the contest but all appearance and goal records are expunged when there is an abandonment, so it won't count towards his Hampton totals, I'm afraid! Tonight Farnham didn't charge any admission fee, no programme or team sheet were issued. The clubhouse was open to supporters though.

First Half
Hampton wore their all-royal blue, sponsorless, away kits, while Farnham sported their traditional claret and sky blue tops, with white shorts and white socks. Hampton lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Lucius Russel in goal; a defensive four of Rio Lamb (left), Michael Donnelly (left-centre), Archie McKenna (right-centre) and Seve Cushing (right); midfielders Tom Maddigan and Kai Cooper were in front of them - incidentally both Maddigan and Cooper had featured for Myles Hook's Spelthorne Sports first team earlier in the week; in front of them an attacking midfield three of Finn McGreevy (left), Captain Joel Doherty (centre) and Tim Salaghishvili (right), played behind lone forward Tyler Andrew-Flower. Hampton's technical area was occupied by Steve Bates, Anthony Weir and Adam Smith.

There was some goalmouth action in the sixth minute when Finn McGreevy crossed in from the left, connecting with Tim Salaghishvili who squared the ball into the danger area, but nobody was there to finish the move off. In the eighth minute, Joel Doherty found himself in some space in the penalty area but dragged his effort wide. A Hampton corner in the 10th minute, the first of several this half, was comfortably cleared at the front post. Next, a Joel Doherty cross was neatly flicked on by Tyler Andrew-Flower, which forced a save from the Farnham keeper, who unusually was wearing shirt number #31. Archie McKenna then blasted the rebound over the bar and into a fenced off area of mud and grass... Casey Jones kindly retrieved the ball for Farnham's keeper, for the second time this evening!

Unfortunately, Tim Salaghishvili's game was cut short, the midfielder took a knock to the head and was helped off, being replaced by Stan Smith. This led to a Hampton reshuffle: Stan Smith went to left back; Rio Lamb switched to right back; and Seve Cushing played at right midfield. Lucius Russel made an exceptional double save in the 19th minute, first with his feet, then with his clenched fists! The grass surface at Farnham's Memorial Ground was perfectly playable, but a little bobbly in places, there were certainly some patches of mud and uneven areas in the 18 yard box that Hampton were shooting towards. Nevertheless, the Beavers enjoyed a spell of composed midfield possession, completing several passes before Michael Donnelly whipped the ball in, searching for Tyler Andrew-Flower but finding only a defender. McGreevy continued the pressure, crossing a ball into the box which was also dealt with.

In the 31st minute Hampton enjoyed a good opportunity followed by a goal. Firstly, from a corner kick a claret and blue shirt attempted a clearance, only for the high ball to spin back into the penalty area, it fell to Joel Doherty but unfortunately he couldn't dig it out from under his feet quickly enough to punish Farnham. Then came the opening goal: a bullet header from Kai Cooper following a pinpoint crossed delivery from Finn McGreevy on the left. Another corner was sent in from Hampton, who must have had at least 10 by now, and Archie McKenna got his head to it, but it was aimed low and was nothing the keeper couldn't deal with.

Joel Doherty attempted a bicycle kick in the 39th minute but the keeper was able to collect the ball. As this was happening the injured Tim Salaghishvili walked past the travelling fans, thanking everyone for their support. Farnham were awarded a penalty kick in the 44th minute, despatched by their number #10, who went strong and central, with Lucius Russel diving to his right. This kick levelled the score at 1-1 just before the half time interval. During the break we mingled with some other Hampton followers: Finn McGreevy and Archie McKenna's fathers were both present; centre-half Jack Griffin was there to support his team mates and we had a chat with him and his mother; and Lucius Russel's father was at the game filming video content. I would guess that at least a third of the modest crowd probably had some Hampton affiliation.

Second Half
The second half kicked off at 20:51. The injured Jack Griffin joined the small but growing Hampton contingent behind the goal, the travelling supporters had opted to remain at the clockhouse end, which offers good views, being situated above a 10-foot grass verge (think similar to Lewes' Dripping Pan ground). Anyway, Hampton had made one half time change, with Roshan Kigozi replacing Rio Lamb. Seve Cushing therefore returned to right-back, with Kigozi playing on the right wing in front of him. Other than that, it was business as usual. In the 55th minute, Lucius Russel made a superb double save, blocking a shot from Farnham's Captain with his feet, then standing his ground against the follow-up shot, beating it away safely into the path of a blue shirt.

Hampton retook the lead in the 57th minute. Finn McGreevy got his name onto the scoresheet after the ball was slid across the area by Roshan Kigozi. And it didn't take long for the Beavers to increase the lead further, Kai Cooper heading in our third, and his second, in the 59th minute. A Farnham corner kick was fired across in the 60th minute, but the ball certainly wasn't in the right place when the kick was taken, however it was of no consequence as the cross was easily cleared.

Joel Doherty was substituted off in the 61st minute, being replaced by an as yet unknown player, first name confirmed as Zack, wearing shirt #19 (Tommy Rance is working to verify!) If you've read this far, you may be the kind of person who will appreciate this useless stat: both goalkeepers in the match wore exactly the same shirt. An Errea stock design, fluorescent green, and I don't think either shirt had a sponsor on it!

Back to the action though, Finn McGreevy suddenly powered the ball into the roof of the net in the 66th minute, leaving the home keeper no chance and distracting the travelling contingent from our conversation! The scoreline was now a comfortable 4-1 to Steve Bates' side. The emphatic Kai Cooper then secured his hat trick, making it 5-1 in the 68th minute.

Tyler Andrew-Flower's evening finished in the 77th minute which led to a tactical reshuffle. Our #19, Zack, moved to left back, with Stan Smith shuffling further up the field; Isaac-Adrian Farquharson, who replaced Tyler Andrew-Flower, took up the front position. Stan Smith surged forward and attempted to lob Farnham's keeper, who must have been the shortest lad on the pitch, but the shot was just wide. Farnham took the ball straight up the other end and their #16 scored a well-taken goal from close range, placing the ball between Lucius Russel and his near post to make the scoreline 5-2 to Hampton. This was the final goal of the evening though as Hampton secured a valuable league win, which will see us climb to third in the table, albeit with only three league games played.

Looking Ahead
Next Monday (17th November) the team will travel to Uxbridge FC's Honeycroft ground for our (Jeff Ritson) Middlesex Senior Youth Cup, Quarter Final fixture. Please consider making the short journey and supporting the lads in the county cup!

Stats
Goals: Kai Cooper 31', 59', 68', Finn McGreevy 57', 66'

Line-up: 1 Lucius Russel (GK), 2 Seve Cushing, 3 Rio Lamb, 4 Tim Salaghishvili, 5 Michael Donnelly, 6 Tom Maddigan, 7 Kai Cooper, 8 Archie McKenna, 9 Tyler Andrew-Flower, 10 Joel Doherty (Cpt), 11 Finn McGreevy
Subs: 12 Isaac-Adrian Farquharson (on for Andrew-Flower, 77'), 14 Stan Smith (on for Salaghishvili, 13'), 17 Roshan Kigozi (on for Lamb, 46'), 19 Zack (on for Doherty, 61')

Referee: David Treherne
Assistant 1: Hisan Niyas
Assistant 2: Josh Mugridge
Attendance: 33 (headcount by Chris Hurst)