We first played Hemel Hempstead Town in the 1965-66 season, after they had been promoted to the Athenian League Premier Division. The first meeting was on 11th December 1965, at Woodside Road, and we won 3-2, with goals from Mick Streeter, Gerry Offen and David Bloom. Two months later, we lost the away match 2-1, at Hemel’s previous ground in Crabtree Lane.

The following season we again won the home fixture, this time drawing in the return match, but were relegated at the end of the campaign and we did not meet each other again until 1969-70, when Hemel joined us down in Athenian League Division 2.

The opening day fixture of that season saw us win 3-0 in Hertfordshire, which is our largest winning margin against Hemel, and which has been repeated three further times (3-0 in 1980-81 and 1981-82 and 4-1 in 1979-80), each of which was at Woodside Road.

After three years at that level, ending when we were promoted, we did not play each other again until both clubs became founder-members of the Isthmian League’s Division 2 in 1977. By this time, our opponents had dropped “Town” from their name, following a merger in the 1970s, and had moved to their current Vauxhall Road ground. We met each season until our promotion at the end of 1981-82, then it was ten years until we played them again.

1990-91 had ended in our relegation from Isthmian League Division 1, following a disastrous campaign; so bad, in fact, that the point we gained at Hemel in the opening match of the following season equalled the total that we had achieved in 21 away league matches the previous year!

We left them behind after two years, when we were promoted and they just missed out. On 7th September 1993 we played each other in a cup tie for the first time, and defeated them 3-2 at home in an Isthmian League Cup Preliminary Round tie.

The next meeting was also a cup match, when we drew 1-1 at home to them in the FA Trophy in November 2016; we beat them in the replay and went on to lose in round 2. (They had readopted “Town” as part of their name by this time)

Hemel have been our opponents in each of our National League South seasons. Last season we lost 2-0 in the away fixture, which equalled their largest winning margin against us (achieved twice previously), and this season’s away match ended 1-1 on 24th August, Jack Spong equalising with almost the last kick of the match.

A summary of our results against Hemel Hempstead Town opponents is shown below: