The Beavers orchestrated a Halloween nightmare of their own making against Ashford Town, a few days before All Hallows Eve.

Against a side languishing in 19th place Hampton could reasonably have expected to have had the upper hand but in a wretched first half, Hampton went 1-0 down and also had a player sent off.

Things looked bleak until Ashford's veteran skipper Jason Chewins sliced a ball into his own net to give Hampton a face saving draw.

The match started badly for Hampton when they went behind after just six minutes.

A hopeful ball was pumped into Hampton's penalty area, keeper Matt Lovett called for the ball but Alan Inns was already committed to make a clearance, the ball fell to Stuart Lake, brother of Hampton's Ryan, and he lobbed the ball towards the unguarded net.

Ashford's joy turned to despair as the ball bounced down off the cross bar, but a second or two later it was Hampton's turn for despair as Ashford's Jon Palmer won the race for the ball and slid it into an empty net.

A few minutes later it was the Ashford keeper who was left in no-man's land after debutant Aaron France came for a cross but didn't make it, however, he was helped out by defenders clearance for a throw in down near the corner flag.

In the 12th minute Hampton vainly appealed for a penalty as Ian Hodges was shoved down, going for a Glen Harris through ball.

Shortly after Marvin Bartley was booked by Referee Lugg, the first of eight in the game, for what seemed nothing more than a collision (it has to be said that some of Mr Lugg's decisions had both teams looking somewhat bewildered).

Harris fired in a snap shot that was almost turned in by Hodges.

In the 28th minute play was suspended for some five minutes after a horrendous accidental collision between Inns and France, both players, intent on the ball, clashed heads in an aerial challenge.

Inns and France fell to the floor, motionless, Inns with blood pouring from a gash, France laid out flat.

Eventually the players were escorted from the field (again Mr Lugg was somewhat slow in signalling for the assistance of the St Johns Ambulance staff at the ground, considering that everyone else could see the seriousness of the incident).

The two players were taken to Teddington's Walk-In Centre for treatment, thankfully to return, battered and bruised, by the end of the game.

Luckily Ashford had their regular keeper on the bench, Ben Lauder-Dykes named as a sub so they had a ready made replacement, whilst Matt Elverson replaced Inns.

Shortly after the restart Lawrence Yaku was presented with a real chance to equalise but decided to try and lob Lauder-Dykes, when a shot either side looked the better option, the replacement keeper leaping up to grab the half hit effort.

Then in the space of 60 seconds Kelvin McIntosh got himself sent off for two yellow cards.

The first, a sliding tackle that went wrong was forgiveable, but the second, less than a minute later, a challenge launched from yards away, was inexcusable (it was a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion).

Seven minutes into the second half Harris seized on a poor clearance and tried a surprise effort from 35 yards, but was wide of the mark.

A few minutes later Ashford's Brett Cooper was booked for taking too long over a throw in but Ashford still got the throw - shouldn't the ball have been given back to Hampton?

Finally Hampton got on level terms but even so it was a weird piece of play.

Yaku was fouled by Chewins (who earned a mention in the Referee's notebook), Harris curled in the free kick from the right, Hodges went for the ball, Chewins, desperate to beat the ball out sliced it into his own net!

Elverson almost gave Hampton the lead when he headed narrowly wide from a Ryan Lake free-kick.

Minutes later Stuart Lake wasted a great opportunity to grab the lead back when he shot wide from close range.

Stuart Lake was also involved at the other end when his sliced clearance from Hodges header almost ended in a second Ashford own goal.

In the end the' Battle of the Lakes' ended all square.

Hampton: Matt Lovett; Marcello Fernandes, Ryan Lake, Marvin Bartley (Dudley Gardner, 46), Glen Harris, Dean Wells, Alan Inns (Matt Elverson, 28), Lawrence Yaku (Elliott Godfrey, 74), Ian Hodges, Barrie Matthews, Kelvin McIntosh.

Subs not used: Obinna Ulasi & Jon Henry-Hayden Later that evening at the Club's Halloween Party in Hammond's Bar, Alan Inns proudly showed off the five scars he has now collected while playing for Hampton. You'd think that Inns would have learnt by now not to lead with his head!