Tarpey rescues a point at the seaside for Beavers

The Beavers travelled to Weston-Super-Mare’s Woodspring Stadium on Tuesday night to play a match originally scheduled for December 1.

The Seasiders came into the game on the back of successive draws against Eastleigh and Basingstoke, stemming the tide of nine consecutive Blue Square South defeats.

The Beavers, on the other hand, could take heart from gaining valuable wins at Basingstoke and Bishop's Stortford in their two previous away games.

Both teams took time to adjust to the wet conditions, although Nathan Collier nearly gave the visitors an early lead with a run and shot from midfield, however the shot was blocked and cleared.

WSM created their first chance on 11 minutes, with a shot from Burnell forcing a smart save from Matt Lovett.

Burnell was in the action again shortly afterwards, however this time received a yellow card for pushing skipper Dean Wells to the ground.

Mid half and Hampton began to dominate. First, Lawrence Yaku laid a ball off to Craig Dundas, who just lost out in race to the ball against the last defender.

A couple of minutes later Yaku and Karl Beckford combined down the left to cross the ball to Nathan, at the far post.

He passed the ball back to Craig Tanner on the edge of the area and his shot was turned goalwards by Dundas, towards the opposite corner.

On a slicker surface this would have been a certain goal, but the mud slowed the ball enough for Sawyer to make the save.

On 25 minutes Dundas was again in the thick of the action, making a powerful run from the halfway line and unleashing a powerful shot.

Sawyer made an excellent fingertip save onto the post and was then thankful to see the ball rebound into his arms.

The Seasiders responded with Cleverley shooting wide from 35 yards, but Hampton continued to press.

Yaku won a corner, but it was the men in red who breathed a sigh of relief when WSM cleared the corner and broke swiftly and dangerously – and it was only thanks to a brave save by Lovett at the feet of the forward.

On the half-hour Burnell jumped with Wells for a header, but landed awkwardly and screamed as though shot.

The Seasiders skipper called for referee Swabey to book Deano – but he was rightly ignored.

Collier forced a corner with a low drive saved by the keeper.

This led to three successive corners but Hampton's delivery wasn’t good enough to create a clear chance on goal.

As half-time approached the lively Burnell shot wide from the edge of the box.

WSM continued to press and the burly Clarke forced a corner. The delivery was over-hit, but a bit of pushing and shoving meant the ref stepping in to calm things down.

The first-half action wasn’t over as Trigger poked the ball forward to Dundas who closed in on goal.

He tried to chip Sawyer, but the keeper caught the ball comfortably and with his quick distribution instigated a quick counter attack.

The ball was swept forwards and was played into the path of Ben Cleverley who scored with a low drive into the far corner.

Just 30 seconds into the second half and Hampton nearly snatched an equaliser, with Dundas taking a speculative shot that just went wide.

Weston responded with Burnell cutting inside from the left and forcing Lovett to beat his powerful shot away.

Yaku had two efforts on goal – one deflected wide and one narrowly wide.

On 56 minutes Hampton created their best chance of the game. Yaku floated in a perfectly weighted cross and found Dundas unmarked in the box – but his header went just the wrong side of the goalpost.

On the hour mark Alan Devonshire made his first change, bringing on Dave Tarpey for Karl Beckford.

The men in white created a couple of chances, which could have doubled their lead.

First, a long ball from Rand ended up at the feet of Mullings but he whacked the ball over the bar in going for power rather than placement.

This was quickly followed by a good cross from the left falling to Burnell.

His well-struck shot was heading towards goal and had beaten Matt, but his team-mate Clarke obviously didn’t fancy the ball hitting his face and spoiling his good looks – so stopped the ball with his hands.

To add insult to injury he was flagged offside.

On 73 minutes Hampton levelled.

A free-kick was awarded in a central position just over 20 yards out. The wall seemed poorly constructed and Tarpey took full advantage with a well placed strike low and hard into the corner of the net.

A couple of minutes later, WSM had claims for a penalty waived away by referee Swabey.

Inman and a Weston forward tussled for a ball and both went to ground.

The man in black must have viewed it as six of one and half a dozen of the other but the Weston players and management were incensed and surrounded the referee and player-manager Andy Gurney was booked for his protests.

With 10 minutes to go Ian Hodges replaced Yaku up front.

Weston seemed to settle for a point as it was Hampton who created the chances in the final minutes.

First, Tarpey whipped in a free-kick from the touchline which got blocked and cleared away.

Then Collier fed the ball to the lively Tarpey who in turn passed onto Dundas.

He beat his marking defender and hit a low shot as he closed in on goal, but keeper Sawyer saved with his legs.

The final chance fell in time added on with Tarpey cutting inside but his shot went wide.

So a point gained or two points dropped?

On the chances created, perhaps disappointing but having been a goal behind perhaps not such a bad result.

Only time will tell towards the end of the season. Certainly, the players gave their all on a very heavy pitch – their efforts much appreciated by the travelling support.

HAMPTON & RICHMOND BOROUGH: MATT LOVETT, NATHAN COLLIER, CRAIG TANNER, ORLANDO JEFFREY, DEAN INMAN, DEAN WELLS, STUART LAKE, KARL BECKFORD, CRAIG DUNDAS, LAWRENCE YAKU, BARRIE MATTHEWS.

SUBS: IAN HODGES, DAVE TARPEY, STEFFAN GAISIE, CHRIS ROBINSON, JOE TALBOT

Attendance 178