Hersham struggled their way to a 3-2 victory at home to Claygate Royals on 23 March. They twice came from behind – thanks to Carl Collins notching from the penalty spot on both occasions – before Paul Deacon bagged with ten minutes remaining to secure all three points.

For a game where there was hardly a misplaced tackle and barely a cross-word exchanged between the sides, this was a match jam-packed with controversy. Two penalties, plenty of stern talking tos and indeed a spectator being effectively red-carded might give a different impression, but, in truth, this was a tight game played in an excellent spirit. Hersham may well have sneaked it in the end, but it certainly could have gone either way.

Hersham started brightly enough and through the first half they edged both possession and chances. Martin Lawton and Danny Wilson were solid at the back, as Alex Cooper worked his way in to his new found Makele-role in midfield. Simon Chang and Dave Ball made up the back four, whilst Chris Purdue, Russ Fogden (on the right) and Dan Hough (on the left) were in the engine room. Mickey Page and Paul Deacon were tasked with scoring the goals.

And, indeed, Page really should have done that mid-way through the first half; with the keeper lying stricken on the deck he danced around him and promptly shanked a left-footer out for a throw in with the goal at his mercy. Hough also went close with a header as Hersham kept creating – and missing – chances.

The hosts’ profligacy in front of goal came back to haunt them when Claygate broke fully the length of the pitch to score. With space on Hersham’s left the visitors took advantage of a defensive mix up to take the lead. It looked like it was going to remain that way until half-time until one of the Claygate midfielders was adjudged to have handled the ball in his own box; it was probably a penalty in the Premier League, but there’ll be plenty of occasions when that decision won’t be given elsewhere.

Carl Collins promptly thudded the ball against the cross bar before getting an immediate chance to redeem himself; the referee had seen some Claygate players encroaching and ordered a re-take. Collins made no mistake second time round.

The drama continued in to the second half; Claygate quickly regained the lead thanks to a bobbly shot from the edge of the box. Hersham ratcheted up their attacking play but chance after chance continued to be spurned; Chris Purdue spooned the ball over from 15 yards whilst Mani Barrerio faced a fantastic save from the Claygate Custodian. It took another penalty (after Hough was tripped) to finally see Hersham draw level. No mistakes this time, Collins fired the ball smartly in to the bottom left corner.

The final few minutes saw Hersham again juggle their pack. Collins went off injured, leaving Barrerio in the centre of the park and Alex Cooper moving back to centre-half. The forced change brought a change of luck, Paul Deacon finishing well to give Hersham the lead for the first time in the game.

Claygate were nonetheless not for lying down and accepting their fate. Steve Crozier made a couple of smart saves before, in the very last minute of the match, he pulled off two super saves within five seconds to deny the visitors. With the ball still not cleared a third shot was fired in from little more than five yards only for a Hersham defender to somehow get his body in the way to deflect it out of harms way.

It was a dramatic finish to what, in truth, was a low quality game of football. A bobbly pitch and too much helter-skelter football saw to that. But, Hersham were nonetheless pleased with the result, particularly as next week they play their game in hand – against next to bottom of the table Tenisonians.