By Tyler Lloyd
Next year is a huge one for all Beaver supporters as it’s the club’s 100th anniversary. This is a huge milestone for any football club heading into the centenary year. There have been many magical moments in the history of the club such as the 2007/08 FA cup run that that saw The beavers get to the first round proper against Dagenham & Redbridge. Another great memory was making it to the fourth round proper of the FA trophy unfortunately, falling short against Hereford back in the 2001-02 season. As well as cup success, The beavers have endured many fond memories such as, The Isthmian premier League, where they were crowned champions in the 2016/17 season finishing on 95 points, and more recently, Hampton secured a fourth place finish in the National League South which, was the clubs highest ever finish in the English Football pyramid.
Despite all these great memories, we decided to pick the FA cup run that happened a decade ago. The 2000-01 season saw us get to the FA cup first round proper against Division 3 (now known as, League 2) outfit Barnet FC. However, Hampton had to get through three qualifying rounds to reach Barnet in the first round.
Their first test in the FA cup, came in qualifying round two where they faced Windsor & Eton FC (who were in the Isthmian League Division 2 at the time). However, Hampton breezed past Windsor & Eton with a comfortable 3-0 victory away from home. This seemed to be an ‘easy’ and ‘expected’ win for The Beavers but, Windsor & Eton clinched promotion domestically at the end of the season and were just a league below Hampton who were at the time in the Isthmian Premier League.
So, after Hampton making it through to the third preliminary round of the FA cup, their next opponent was another away day against, Welsh side Merthyr Tydfil who played their football in the Southern League and beat their league and Welsh rivals Newport county 4-0 to progress and face The Beavers. Hampton sealed another 3-0 win in the third round against the Welsh team to progress through to the fourth and final preliminary round of the FA cup. This was the first time the club has achieved this since the 1977-78 season where they lost to Barnet.
Hampton’s final fixture was at home against Southern Premier League outfit Worcester FC, who had beat Cirencester Town 2-1 and Thatcham Town 3-1 to make it to the fourth preliminary round for the third consecutive year. This would be seen as a tough opponent for Hampton & Richmond, knowing Worcester’s record in the FA cup in recent years. Despite this, The Beavers cruised through, winning by an emphatic scoreline of 5-0 sealing, for the first time ever a place the FA cup first round proper.
Hampton & Richmond were to play away against League two’s Barnet in the FA cup first round proper. Emotions were running high with this fixture as, Hampton fans were witnessing history, this team was creating it. The game was played on the 18th of November at the Underhill stadium with, an attendance of 2,340. There was a particular famous face in the Barnet team being, former West Ham United and England International, Tony Cottee. Hampton were up against it but took a memorable lead through our forward Craig Maskell in the 21st minute. Hampton took the lead through the first half and deep into the second where, it looked like The Beavers might just pull this off and make it through to the second round. However, devastatingly Barnet forward Tony Richards secured an equaliser in the 84th minute and then six minutes later Darren Currie gave Barnet the 2-1 win in the dying embers of the game.
Despite the heartache of the loss, the 2000-01 will always be in the history of the club and legends, being the first team to make it to the FA cup first round. This is just one of the memories in this clubs rich history and a special one for any Beavers fan.
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