Two hours' football (extra time being played) failed to produce a goal in the Amateur Cup-tie between Hampstead and Portland United on Saturday at Claremont Road, and consequently Hampstead have to make the long journey to Portland tomorrow, where they will be faced with a big task, three years having passed since the United were beaten on their own ground. A brilliant exhibition of goalkeeping by W.R. Hillear for Portland, and failure to use golden opportunities by the Hampstead forwards, of whom E.M. Lloyd was the worst offender, led to a replay being necessary.

It is a long time since we have seen such good goalkeeping on the Hampstead ground. It is no exaggeration to say that Hampstead had four-fifths of the game, and that Hillear had a dozen shots to save to one by S.R. Smith, the home goalkeeper. Yet at the end honours were easy, and though disappointed, Hampstead supporters could not refrain from cheering the visitors on keeping their end up.

The early start (2.15) was not conducive to records for attendance being broken, but although the figure reached in a match against Barnet was not beaten, it was satisfactory to hear that 3,382 paid for admission, the gross takings being over £100. The visitors brought a good number of supporters, who made their presence known. Lord Cranborne, M.P. for South Dorset, occupied a seat in the stand, and nearby were representatives of Hendon Council, including Councillor A.A. Naar (chairman), B.J. Monro (vice-chairman), F.C. Rice, W.H.N. Shakespeare, and T.J. Scott. They were received by Mr. A.G. Raymond (president of the club), and other officials, and we believe they thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Portland United brought their strongest eleven. It was said that they had scored 85 goals this season, and looked forward to this match providing the hundredth. Who said Dorset people were pessimists? Hampstead were also able to put full strength in the field, although there had been doubts about the ability of Bucci and Buchanan to play.

Bucci, upon winning the toss, gave Hampstead the benefit of a strong wind in the first half. For a long time Smith did not touch the ball, and this will give some idea of the character of the play. Dean and Compton had no difficulty in meeting Portland attacks, their outside-right being the only one to get anywhere near goal. With the half-backs also in trim, a rich harvest of goals was predicted. But we were unaware of the qualities of Hillear. At first he gave no indication of being an outstanding player, but as time went on he played much more confidently, and some of his clearances were remarkably clever. One of the best was from a free kick taken by Graves; others almost as good were from Bucci and Evans.

The fame of Evans had evidently spread to Dorset, for he was carefully watched by Matthews, Comben and Brine, who, with Hillear, take the honours for the goalless draw. Evans, however, managed to thread his way into the penalty area several times, and on one occasion he touched the ball to Lloyd, who should have scored. But he failed, as he did several times later, and as the other wingers were almost as bad in throwing away chances, Evans could be forgiven if he played what seemed to be a somewhat selfish game. Though Hampstead could not score, Portland never gave one the impression that they would win. The few shots that Smith had to deal with could not be called dangerous. To play facing the wind was a disadvantage, but allowing for this, their play was not up to Athenian League standard.

The second half brought some improvement in Portland's attack, but even with the wind the midfield work of the visiting side was not so impressive as Hampstead's. But, unfortunately, time brought no improvement in Hampstead's attack, and it was mortifying to see chance after chance wasted. Luck was certainly not on their side, but the scales were not so heavily weighted in Portland's favour as to account for inability to score.

The heavy state of the ground militated against good football, but the teams were evidently tuned for a hard game, and on the whole play was clean. There was one occasion when Comben and Evans had an argument, but they soon realised how folly it would be to pursue an argument on the field.

Towards the end there was one particularly exciting incident. Hillear partly saved from Evans, Butland then crashed the ball against the crossbar, and from the rebound Bramley sent it over the posts.

Play during the extra time proved uninteresting, the teams showing signs of tiredness. Portland played with the wind in the first "15", and made some desperate efforts to bring off a win, but Dean and Compton put up a sound defence, and Smith was not greatly troubled. The Hampstead forwards, however, showed no improvement near goal, and the end came with the score sheet blank.

There were several stoppages for injuries, Robbins being off the field for a short time, but no one was seriously hurt, and we hope to see an equally pleasant game tomorrow at Portland.

Though Portland's chances in the replay are favoured, we cannot think the Hampstead forwards can be quite so ineffective again. In the six preceding matches (four away from home) they had scored 28 goals, and if their defence is as sound as it was last Saturday, then we may yet see them in the next round against Kingstonian.