A STUNNING strike from Barrie Matthews gave Hampton & Richmond fans something to smile about at the end of their painful campaign.
The full back's low shot from outside the area eight minutes from time beat a crowd of defenders after Chelmsford had failed to clear a long throw from Dean Wells.
It summed up a night of defiance from the home side, who were under the cosh for most of the second half.
Dave Tarpey had given the Beavers a 22 nd minute lead but Ricky Holmes deservedly drew City level on 76 minutes.
The visit of Chelmsford was a painful reminder of a fall from grace this season. A year ago the two teams were about to do battle in the play-offs. Twelve months on and while the visitors are preparing for another shot at reaching the Blue Square Premier, the Beavers only saw off the spectre of relegation at the weekend.
The fate of the respective sides was clear early on, with Chelmsford bright and breezy and almost ahead in two minutes when Warren McBean turned and fired wide with the goal at his mercy.
The striker soon had another chance to put the visitors in front, but failed to connect with a perfect Holmes cross – his attempted header looping up harmlessly off his shoulder to keeper Matt Lovett.
Lawrence Yaku missed a golden opportunity to give Hampton the lead too – firing against the legs of goalkeeper Ashley Harrison when put clean through by Ian Hodges.
But Tarpey showed him how it should be done with a much harder chance on 21 minutes. Yaku's ball looked too far ahead of the winger, but Tarpey beat Harrison to the race and touched it past the keeper before scampering around him to tap into an empty net for his eighth of the season.
Chelmsford seized the initiative after the break and the pace and trickery of winger Holmes merited a goal when he cut inside two defenders and sent a curling drive onto the crossbar.
But he was not to be denied 15 minutes from time when he played a smart one-two with McBean before tucking a left foot shot crisply inside Lovett's right hand post.
Far from it being a prelude to an away win, however, Hampton had something left in the tank to spring a late surprise.
