Richmond 4 Epsom 3 (P Atkinson, Kruger, Tong)

Epsom travelled to Men's Surrey/Hants League Division One leaders Richmond on Saturday hopeful of a positive result to gain ground on the top two sides, writes James Midmer.

Epsom started with a cautious four-man midfield, looking to retain possession and keep a free-flowing Richmond attacking line at bay.

Initially, these tactics worked well; Richmond had a lot of possession but Nathan Hutchings marked superbly and Epsom were well marshalled by sweeper Ali Murrell.

Having frustrated a bright Richmond opening, Epsom then opened the scoring with a superb move down the right, which culminated in a close range finish from Paul Atkinson to make it 1-0.

Epsom could not keep the lead for long, however, as Richmond poured forward and score a deserved equalised straight away after some tight skills in the area.

At 1-1, the game started to develop nicely, with both sides playing some nice hockey before Epsom retook the lead with another good goal.

Some sublime skill from Wade Joubert opened up space before James Harris found Rob Kruger on the right post.

Richmond continued to look good going forward and as their left midfielder broke through the 25, James Harris stopped his progress and was sent to the sin bin.

Epsom held out with 10 men until half-time where the emphasis was on keeping up a commendable workrate.

The second half was always going to be tough for Epsom as the amount of work they were having to do without the ball started to take effect.

Richmond made it 2-2 just after the restart and then started to dominate proceedings with some attractive passing hockey.

It took a heroic defensive effort from Epsom to keep the scores level for much of the half, with Nathan Hutchings clearing a short corner off the line and Savage producing a number of good saves and clearances.

Epsom were finding it hard to get the ball into attacking areas and, as soon as they did, it cost them, as they lost the ball and Richmond scored from a sweeping counterattacking move.

Almost immediately after, a Richmond player was put through and Savage conceded a penalty flick, which was converted to give the hosts a 4-2 lead.

Epsom showed good character to rally and put in a strong finish to the game, bringing the deficit back to one with a cheeky finish from Rob Tong.

Epsom finished the game on the attack but it was a case of too little, too late, and Richmond thoroughly deserved their win for a dominant second half display during which they retained possession and pressed superbly high up the pitch.

Epsom will look to get back to winning ways at home to Chichester 2s next week at Blenheim.

It is the sides last game before the Christmas break, and they will look to finish the year on a high.