By Tom Scrimshaw
Hampton’s U14A team faced a tough test on Saturday as they looked to get their winning streak back underway against a strong Epsom College side. Hampton were looking to bounce back from an agonising last-minute defeat to Matthew Arnold School last week in the ESFA cup round of 16, in what was a Hampton domination for the most part of the clash but unfortunately resulted in their exit from the competition.
With the sun beating down on the First XI pitch, Hampton were certainly fired up for the occasion, with everyone as desperate as ever for a win so that they could put the misery of their cup exit behind them.
Epsom College kicked off the first half confidently, dominating possession and passing the ball around their back line, looking to tire the home side early on. However, after a handful of attempts on goal from Epsom, which lacked the all-important final finish, Hampton started to pick up the pace of their own performance.
After 20 minutes of play, Epsom had enjoyed the majority of the possession but Hampton had shown no cracks in their defence and the game remained goalless.
As Hampton pressed, the ball was intercepted in midfield and played through the lines to in-form striker Oliver Khaksar. With only a few touches needed, Khaksar expertly powered a strike at the misplaced Epsom goalkeeper who recovered brilliantly to parry over the bar.
Due to this moment of inspiration, Hampton now had the momentum so pushed on, resulting in the ball being collected by midfielder Leo Nishida on the edge of box before curling a superb effort towards goal with the Epsom College goalkeeper coming up with another acrobatic stop to deny Hampton from taking the lead.
With not long before the break, Hampton showed no signs of reducing the pace of their display and started to control the majority of possession for the first time in the game. With only seconds left of the first half, Epsom suddenly broke away, but their shot from ambitiously far out met the hands of Hampton goalkeeper Sam Hudson to keep the score at 0-0 at the break.
Half-time score: 0-0
Hampton came out for the second half with all guns blazing. For the first ten minutes of the half, neither team had many chances to score until an opportunity cropped up for Hampton.
Resultant of a defensive miscommunication at the back from Epsom, Rufus Lawson burst through the Epsom defence and floated the ball into the box where Oliver Khaksar connected perfectly, heading towards goal. Unable to stop the ball within the laws of the game, the only remaining Epsom defender back for the away team resorted to handling Khaksar’s powerful effort off the line, gifting Hampton a penalty and their first clear cut opportunity to go in front.
With calmness and composure, Oliver Khaksar stepped up to the spot and slotted the penalty away to give Hampton a deserved 1-0 advantage.
After Hampton’s back four battled hard to regain the ball, play was switched out to Rufus Lawson on the right-wing, who controlled the ball calmly before firing the ball across the Epsom goal line where a Myan Mallipeddi tap in extended Hampton’s advantage to a comfortable two goals.
Now that Hampton had a reasonable lead, they looked to retain possession whilst also looking to add another to the goal tally at the right opportunity.
After a few meaningful attacks by Epsom, the opposition started to regain their fight and determination and pushed forward into Hampton territory. Due to a blunder in midfield, Epsom regained possession of the ball and their striker was set through on goal before being shut down immediately by a united Hampton defence.
This burst of energy from Epsom failed to rock the Hampton team as they responded with a counter-attack that resulted in A-team debutant, Theo Jenkins, gathering the ball just outside the penalty area and just as he was about to pull the trigger, was brought down to win a free-kick towards the dying stages.
With the winner of the free-kick preparing to launch an effort at goal, Hampton knew that this would be probably their last chance to extend their lead further. A dynamic effort at the Epsom goal whistled just wide of the woodwork before the final whistle blew just minutes later, signalling an important and impressive Hampton victory.
After the game, Hampton held their heads high knowing that they had put in a brilliant performance and had bounced back after an agonising defeat the week before. The Hampton team showed their appreciation to the parents for playing a crucial role in their unwavering support on the sidelines, but the focus would soon be turned to a crunch clash with Wimbledon College in the Quarter finals of the County Cup in a couple of weeks.
Full-time score: 2-0
Second-half Goalscorer(s): Oliver Khaksar, Myan Mallipeddi
Second-half assist(s): Rufus Lawson