Team: Lovett, San Emeterio, Grundy, Reeves, De Baros, Fewtrell, Shipman, Cousins, Jessavala, Lucking, Richards.  

Subs: Fisher (Lucking - HT), Kingston (Richards - 70), Jones (Cousins - 80) 

Goal Scorers: Cousins, Jessavala 

It was great to give 16 year old Luke Fewtrell his debut in what was a very tough introduction into Suburban league football. He did very well out wide on the right, we have all been very impressed with him & I am sure it is only a matter of time before he is involved with the 1st team squad.

As expected, Hampton started with composure on the ball & looked sharp all over the pitch. Although they generally had the upper hand early in the game their efforts on goal were limited to long range efforts. Hartley took the lead against the run of play & with the number of bodies in the box it was hard to see who got the final touch on the ball following a cross from the right wing, but judging by the celebrations it was Luke Cousins who had put us infront.  

Following taking the lead we immediately expected to be put under pressure but this never materialised as hartley battled well & continued to frustrate the table toppers. Later in the 1st half Hampton did equalise following a free kick out wide on the left, the ball was played into the penalty area but was only headed half clear & fell to the Hampton player 20 yards from goal, with the defence not pushing out to shut the player down he was free to shoot & the ball was wickedly deflected into the bottom corner of the goal. 

To go in at half time on level terms certainly gave the players the confidence that they could get a positive result from the game.

Hampton took the lead midway through the 2nd half, again from a free kick in a wide area. With the Hampton attacker just getting infront of his marker to head home. It could have been easy to collapse & concede further goals after going behind but again the attitude throughout the Hartley team was impressive & each player dug deep & got exactly what they deserved with the equaliser in the last minute of normal time. Good work on the left by Jason Kingston & Pedro de Baros resulted in Aaron Jessavala side footing home from 6 yards out following a cross from the left. 

With injury time almost over a free kick was awarded to Hampton midway in our half, with a sea of bodies in the penalty area the referee missed James Reeves being pulled to the ground & the Hampton striker managed to head home to the huge frustration & dissapointment of all the Hartley players, who had deserved to take a share of the spoils. 

To equalise in the 90th minute & to then concede with almost the last kick of the game was a sickening blow. Although Hampton had the greater quality, for effort alone from every single Hartley player we certainly deserved a point. The celebrations from the visiting players & bench proved that they were hugely relieved & fortunate to come away with the three points.

The only negative to take from the game is that we conceded all 3 goals directly or indirectly from set pieces. Sometimes you can hold your hand up & accept conceding goals against a top side through an individual piece of skill or good passage of play, but to concede in the manner that we did is something that needs to be worked on.  

If we carry on with the commitment & desire that we showed on Saturday, add to that a bit of composure when in possession & a little more resilience defensively (especially from set pieces!) then we will certainly begin to move up the table.