The Fleet broke a club record with their 10th straight win at Hungerford this afternoon, the victory passing the nine wins set by Steve Brown’s side of 2013/14.

And it wasn’t an easy one, with Toby Edser’s early goal enough but his teammates had to stand strong as a Hungerford side who enjoyed their best performance of the season according to their boss Danny Robinson made life difficult.

Fleet made four changes from the Emirates FA Cup win last week with Luke O’Neill, Christian N’Guessan, Greg Cundle and Edser in place of Sido Jombati, Josh Wright, Ben Chapman and Kieran Monlouis.

Kick-off was delayed by half an hour after severe traffic problems and while Hungerford enjoyed a longer warm-up as a result, Fleet were straight into the action after their own brief spell of limbering up. New home signing Conor Lynch tried to take advantage of that within the opening three minutes as he ran through on goal but Haydn Hollis held him up and Mark Cousins got in his way.

But any suggestions Fleet might be caught cold were dispelled on five minutes when O’Neill eased into the box and despite the attentions of white shirts, cut a ball back leaving Edser to clinically side foot home.

In a pacy opening period, Hungerford weren’t far off as Curtis Angell threw himself at a cross from the right as it passed over Cousins but the defender was unfortunate not to get it on target.

After that flurry of activity, things settled down and Fleet were able to dig in and control the game through midfield without either side really fashioning a chance worthy of the name.

Darren McQueen swung a useful effort over the bar on 26 minutes after good work by the cool and calm N’Guessan and then at the other end Lynch made advances behind the Fleet back line for a second time but pulled his shot and Cousins was able to gather.

Poleon and Bingham weren’t getting as much service as they might have liked though Joe Martin’s ball from wide on the half-hour was skilfully chipped over the defender by the heel of Poleon before goalkeeper Ed Brearey brought it down.

Eight minutes before half-time, a period of possession and neat approach play saw Cundle skip past a challenge to the left of the box and find first Solly and then N’Guessan who both tried to dig a clean shot from a sea of bodies in the middle but Hungerford cleared.

There were a few anxious seconds late on in the half as Angell’s long delivery from distance bounced awkwardly on a bumpy pitch and Cousins needed to make a smart block low in front of his posts with white shirts approaching. But the last opportunity was the Fleet’s, Edser’s stride through midfield finding Cundle whose shot looked like it was sneaking in past Brearey but Louis McGrory stretched across the six-yard box to steer it away.

The opening exchanges after the break were frustrating for the Fleet as Hungerford tried to mount a comeback, with Joel Rollinson in particular lively but the visitors’ back three were a stout rearguard when called upon.

It wasn’t pretty stuff for either set of fans as the game settled into a dogged midfield affair with a succession of minor fouls and stray passes. Hungerford sent long balls swinging in towards the Fleet goal but rarely with much real conviction, though their pressing game disrupted any flow the visitors attempted to get into.

Omari Sterling-James was brought on to inject some fresh legs and he came closest on 70 minutes, cutting in from the left to deliver a good low shot that skipped past the far post. Brearey had to be out smartly to deny Poleon as Fleet stepped it up in the final 20 before Shaq Coulthirst found himself just offside from Edser’s pass through the middle.

Tackles were flying in and frustration was to the fore on the Fleet bench as the referee and his assistant failed to clamp down on a few wrestles between players, McQueen in particular finding his marking somewhat tight! Kyle Bailey sent in a great shot that Cousins had to turn behind and the goalkeeper punched a corner clear under pressure as the Crusaders pushed forward in the kind of typically scrappy conclusion Fleet have become used to at Bulpit Lane.

McQueen’s twist and turn on 82 minutes might have taken the pressure off the one-goal lead as his shot ran just wide of Brearey’s fingertips.

The final minutes saw the drama ratchet up further, and substitute Ben Allen ran into Dennis Kutrieb by the dugout, pushing him over, necessitating further intervention by the referee. With six added minutes, the interruption didn’t really help Hungerford’s flow and that worsened when play restarted as Callum Willmoth crunched into Coulthirst, earning himself a straight red card.

That signalled the final action of the game and the visitors made off with three points, their 10th straight win in all competitions and a shiny new club record.

EUFC: Cousins, O’Neill, Martin, Hollis, Solly, N’Guessan, Cundle (Sterling 57), McQueen (Jombati 83), Edser, Bingham (Coulthirst 69), Poleon. Subs: Firth, Domi
HTFC: Brearey, McGrory, Angell, Rollinson (Thomas 67), Willmoth, Lynch (Allen 73), Smith (Evans 67), Barry-Hargreaves, Tyler, Gyebi, Bailey. Subs: Wylie, Rusby
Attendance: 540

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