Hampton & Richmond Borough FC missed out on the chance of going joint-top of the National League South on Saturday, after bottom side Whitehawk held them to a 1-1 draw. But the home side had to play the majority of the second half with ten players, after Charlie Wassmer was dismissed for two bookable offences on the hour mark.

The result leaves Hampton remaining in second place, just two points behind leaders Dartford, who have played a game more than the Beavers. But there are only eight points separating the top nine, and with everyone dropping points over the last few weeks it is impossible to predict who will be gaining promotion to the National League come the end of the season.

First-team coach Martin Tyler claimed the club never expected to be where they are now at the beginning of the season, but that they will carry on fighting to see how far they can go. He continued: “To maintain a second season in any league after promotion is difficult, and obviously we did pretty well in our first season, and we thought we overachieved a little bit then.

“But we’re still in with a shout, and obviously for the supporters it will be disappointing now if we don’t make the playoffs, so that’s the target. And while we’re still in contention to win the league, we’ll go to try and win the league.”

Hampton started the better of the two sides, but it was Whitehawk who took the lead midway through a first half where clear-cut chances were few and far between. And it was fortuitous to say the least. On a rare breakaway, the ball fell to Kodi Lyons-Foster out on the right, and his low cross was bundled home at the second attempt by Elliott Benyon, debutant goalkeeper Will Henry unable to prevent the ball trickling into the corner of the net.

Frustrations began to boil over just before the half-time break with Hampton having a couple of penalty appeals waved away by referee Jacob Miles, but it didn’t take long after the interval for the home side to hit back, albeit aided by a bit of luck themselves. Captain Josh Casey’s corner seemed too close to Hawks goalkeeper Dan Wilks who gathered with little pressure, only to inexplicably carry the ball backwards into his own net, to concede what has to go down as an own goal.

Wilks had another nervous moment not too long after when he fumbled Josh Taylor’s low drive from the right, only to see it rebound off the foot of the post and back into his grateful arms.

Hampton had started the second half strongly, but everything changed when Wassmer was given his second yellow card on the hour. The central defender was named Hampton’s Player of The Month prior to kick-off, but went from hero to zero very quickly when he was given his marching orders for a late tackle on Benyon in the centre circle.

Tyler knew Wassmer’s importance to the side, claiming: “He’ll be a big miss, because he’s a very good player and he’s arguably been our player of the season to be honest, so we’ll have to do some work. I think it’ll be three games, so we’ll have to try to find a way to plug the gap.”

Following the sending-off, the home side lost any momentum they had previously gained, becoming more wasteful in front of goal as the crowd’s frustration grew. Neither side had a gilt-edged opportunity to win the game late on, and in the end both had to settle for a share of the spoils.