Upminster Daggers - Dagenham and Redbridge FC Fan Site

Hampton and Richmond

0

FA Cup
Beveree Stadium

Saturday 10th November 2007 

Pre-match:-
Todays journey was one of the select few within the confines of the London Travelcard so it was a journey eagerly anticipated by the UD. An early start was in order so as to cram as much food and drink on board as possible. The day actually got off to the worst possible start. Breakfast in the cafe was as bad as it could be, then Zedders dropped the bombshell that he wasnt in the possession of his motor so we would have to make our way to the station on the 248!! The bus then took 20 minutes to arrive rendering the 1100hrs meet worthless as we didn't get going til gone half past. Still, a few train lagers later we were met by the Half Way Line boys who had gone on ahead to do some pub spotting in sunny Hampton. Plenty of lager later and it was time for the short stagger to the ground.

Attendees:-
Cup fever is normally the day when the rent-a-mob dust down their scarves and attend their first games since the last cup run but sadly this wasn't the case for the Upminster Daggers as we had a pretty regular turn-out. Dog,Deaders,Middle, Broons and Stew were joined by Captain Gobless at the Hampton boozer. Yoof and chum had made the trip in advance to link up in the ground.

Crowd:-
Officially the crowd stood at 2250 which was all unsegregated. Its difficult to gauge the number of Daggers in attendence but it would certainly have been 600 or more, the majority were packed into one corner of the ground. Hampton were superb for this game, keeping tickets to a realistic price level and (probably on the advice of Dagenham) allowing supporters to roam around the ground in a manner not seen since our non-league days (months ago!!) it would have helped the atmosphere and I hope the Hampton support enjoyed the rubbish chat we had to offer! Hopefully, Hampton will be successful in keeping some of that extra support for games to come.

Match:-
Typical, hard fought cup-tie. Dagenham, who have been poor of late, had to work hard to match Hampton who pressurised the ball at all opportunities. The bobbly pitch and difficult cross wind made good football difficult and it was Hampton who had the best and only real opening of the half, Robbo again coming to the rescue. Super Strevs turned the game after coming on for the last 30, winning the ball out wide and stretching the game after we got our noses in front. Tactically, Stilly got it right. We had a game plan and stuck to it.

Post match:-
Realistically, the game was won at one nil so the UD took the opportunity to get out of the ground and back across London for a gala dinner in aid of Upminster Cricket Club. After legging it to the chip shop (military manoeuvres included) only to find it shut, train was boarded successfully. Smoothly across town, the glitzy bash was reached easily in time to see the first of the celebrities arriving. Much food and wine later it was off to dream of the second round..