In true groundhog-day fashion, we have been undone by a single goal the third successive game after tonight’s loss to Hampton & Richmond Borough at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
This time, the goal was unfortunately put in by one of our own players, when Charlie Rowan stuck his foot out and sent the ball into Billy Terrell’s goal in the 72nd minute.
It was a desperately unlucky result, in a game where our gaffer Mark Molesley said the players gave “absolutely everything.”
It was a statement tough to deny, with our players threatening Ted Curd’s goal throughout the entire game.
Newcomer Jordan Maguire-Drew stood out on the pitch, feeding our players with countless chances.
But, for all of our positivity, we still find ourselves without a point this season, despite having played seven games.
After our narrow defeat to Slough Town last weekend, we saw three changes to our line-up.
Jordan, Franny Amartey and Brooklyn Genesini coming in for Euan Pollock, Ezio Touray and the injured Malachi Linton.
With Franny and skipper Tom Bearwish playing up top, in a 4-3-3 formation, the emphasis was on attack.
It almost worked perfectly inside just six minutes when Franny, in hardly any space, fired into the wrong side of the netting.
However, when the visitors had a chance of their own just two minutes later, we were a lineman’s decision away from finding ourselves a goal behind.
It was Mike Atkinson who swung the ball into the box, with the head of Bunmi Babajide sending it beyond Billy and into the net.
This would have put The Beavers a goal ahead, had the linesman not flagged for offside.
Then, in true end-to-end fashion, Franny pounced on a mistake by Jerry Wiltshire and carried the ball to the edge of the box.
His strike, though, was unable to generate enough power to trouble Curd.
At this point, we boasted the upper hand, as shown when a piece of fast one-touch play nearly carved open the Hampton & Richmond defence.
Jordan started the attack with a delicate backheel to Calvin Brooks, who then cut in from the left to find Tom in the box.
Then, a quick combination of one-two play picked out Brooklyn, whose strike was blocked.
But, soon, The Beavers fought back, first through James Roberts, whose curling effort landed left of Billy’s goal.
The Hampton & Richmond skipper did well to create the opportunity for himself after embarking on a surging run down the right, following some one-touch play with Jake Gray.
Their next big chance came just after the 20-minute mark, when Josh Keeya, just outside of the box, saw his shot deflected behind.
With just over 10 minutes left of the first half to play, our threat was still present, this time through our defenders, when Charlie Rowan directed Jordon Thompson’s cross towards goal with a looping header.
This may have put us in front, had Curd not pushed the ball behind with his fingertips.
Our final opening of the half came five minutes before the break, when Tom lashed Jordan’s corner over the bar.
In the process, Calvin appeared to be manhandled to the floor; shouts for a penalty, though, were ultimately ignored.
If anything can point towards how unlucky we’ve been this season, our first major chance of the second half should be it.
Four minutes in, Brooklyn threw a dangerous ball down the line, which was met by Tom, who sent in a fast low cross from the left by-line.
Tom’s pass landed at the feet of Jordan, who sent the ball beyond Curd.
Or so he thought; somehow, the Hampton & Richmond shot-stopper tipped our newcomer’s close-range strike over the bar with both hands.
The Chelsea loanee’s heroics, astonishingly, ensured we were still goalless early in the second half.
The visitors remained quiet until after the hour-mark, their first sight at goal being from Roberts, whose low curling strike was easily dealt with by our keeper.
Our imposing threat throughout the game suggested that our first goal in almost a month would surely come.
However, as results have already shown this season, any luck that does happen tends to go the other way.
There was 18 minutes left of regular time when Gray sent in an awkward ball inside the box.
Corey, who did the right thing, stuck his leg out toward the ball.
But, then, his interception went the one place it wasn’t supposed to go; past Billy and into the net.
This meant we were now a goal down with less than 20 minutes left to play.
As our commentator Robert Santonna said, “when your luck is down, it really hits you where it hurts.”
But, despite our setback, we nearly produced the perfect response barely a minute on, when Tom squeezed the ball to Franny near the by-line.
However, once again, Curd came to the rescue, keeping out Franny’s strike.
By now the game was petering out, though there was still enough time for us to threaten the opposition’s goal.
With 10 minutes left, Brooklyn sent in a dangerous cross, towards the head of Fareed Salifu.
But even the substitute could not break The Beavers’ dam, Curd keeping the ball out once again.
They eventually held out, condemning us to our third 1-0 loss in a row.
But, if Tuesday’s performance was anything to go by, our fortunes will surely change soon.
