Erith & Belvedere   3          Kuypers 2, Cappuccio

Hampton                   3          Nelson, Rice, O’Connell pen

London Senior Cup semi-final, 4 April 1987 

 

Hampton                   1          Rice

Erith & Belvedere   1          Kuypers

Replay, 9 April 1987

 

Hampton                   0         

Erith & Belvedere   0         

Second replay, 16 April 1987

 

Erith & Belvedere   0         

Hampton                   2         

Third replay, 21 April 1987

 

Continuing the series counting down the 100 most memorable games in our history.  Today, the longest Cup tie in our history, a semi-final decided after 450 minutes and not the way we wanted it.

 

1986-87 was a decent season for the Deres, finishing 8th in the 21-team Southern League Southern Division.  Alongside a good league showing, wins home to Borehamwood (1-0 aet), away to Staines (5-0) and home to Collier Row (1-0) took us to the semi-final of the London Senior Cup, and an epic series of matches.

 

The first one took a while, as our Isthmian League opponents’ coach broke down at Banstead on the way to Erith.  The game kicked off at 4.15pm and had the lot – goalmouth scrambles, a dodgy penalty, and an injury-time equaliser to force extra time, which ended at 6.40pm!  Delighted Erith boss Peter Peters said: “I was really proud of the lads in the way we battled back from 3-1 down.  And it was nice to hear the crowd getting behind us – especially in the last 20 minutes.”

 

The replay the following Thursday at Hampton finished 1-1 after extra time.  The second replay, on Thursday 16 April, ended goalless after extra time with both sides missing chances.  The nearest was in extra time when the ball flew through a mass of players from a Graham Hall corner and hit Ian Kuypers a yard out and bounced over the bar.  Then with just a minute left, Hall’s shot hit the inside of the post and came out.

 

So the teams met at Park View on 21 April – E&B’s seventh of 10 games in 19 days!  

This third replay saw Deres again miss chances to win, Kevin Alexander seeing his shot well saved and Sean McFadden’s shot going inches wide.  But Hampton got the vital breakthrough seven minutes from time, after a goalmouth scramble, and with Deres pushing forward for the equaliser, they left room for Hampton to score again.

 

Peters declared himself “absolutely gutted”.  He said: “It was very disappointing to lose after four games and, quite honestly, I think we could have won all of them.  It was a good performance, but I think I would rather we had played badly and won than played well and lost.”

 

DERES (first game): Dave Morgan; Martin Johnson, Dave Beagley, Tommy Sampson, Graham Hall, Peter Cappuccio, Sean McFadden, Kenny Wallace (Terry Villis 72), Dave Wadhams, Kevin Alexander, Ian Kuypers.

 

So that April the Deres played on the 4th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 25th and 27th.  Amazingly that game on the 27th was a 1-0 win at Dover, lying 3rd and still in with a chance of promotion.