By two goals (both scored by Harry Shearcroft) to love, Hampstead gained full Athenian points against Barking Town on Saturday at Claremont-road, and now head the League by three clear points. They have secured 11 out of a possible 16. Even bearing in mind that all but two of the eight League games have been played at home, the figure is extraordinarily good, seeing that Hampstead have met some of their strongest opponents. At the moment the only unbeaten team in the League is Enfield, who have drawn one of their three matches.

Hampstead have been fortunate in having a good run of home League matches, and these have brought to the ground a large number of new supporters. The standard of play in last Saturday's game was not equal to that in several other previous matches, but the fact that Hampstead won sent most people away in good humour. As a matter of fact, Barking Town gave a very disappointing display, and will have to show much better form to keep a place among the top sawyers. They have an outstanding player in Vango, at centre-half, upon whom a great deal of reliance is placed. He did good work on Saturday, but it was a terribly long time before the Hampstead men saw the necessity of keeping a watch on his movements. On the other hand, the Hampstead captain, J. Smy, found his movements considerably hampered, and was seen to much less advantage than usual.

Changes were compulsorily made in the Hampstead side owing to H. Miller and W.C.H. Neil being called upon to represent the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire respectively. This led to the re-introduction of H. Shearcroft at centre-forward and G. Bucci at inside-right, A. Owens being declared fit to take up again his position at left-back, which has been very worthily filled by Bucci. Without wishing to decry the merits of Neil and Miller, it cannot be said that the side was weakened by the changes. Apart from scoring the two goals, Shearcroft justified his inclusion, even though he may not retain the position. Bucci is in fine fettle this season, no matter where he is placed, and as an inside forward he put a good deal of life in the attack. He had a hand in both goals, and particularly in the first half, he not only snapped up with remarkable promptitude many chances of shooting, but plied Sherman with numberless passes. So, too, did Shearcroft, and for once the right wing was not the weaker.

Hampstead scored one goal in either half, but the score in no sense represented the play in the first "45." Before changing ends they should, with an ordinary amount of luck, have had three goals in hand. Chances galore were thrown away, but while Hine, the Barking custodian, was responsible for some good saves, he was lucky in other respects. Moore got into the habit of running too far forward before sending the ball across to waiting colleagues. The forwards were helped considerably by the halves, all of whom were in good form, Young being a tireless worker. Owens showed that he thoroughly recovered from his injury. He had a strong wind to face, but his tackling and judgment relieved Smith immensely. Webb kicked strongly and surely. Smith had many anxious moments, but his consistency has been a marked feature this season. Except for the debacle at Hayes, when the ball was sent by him six times (this big score was not entirely due to him), he has only been beaten half-a-dozen times in eight games, so that if this form can be maintained, and the forwards can get a reasonable number of goals, everything will be well with Hampstead.

Barking started promisingly by getting a corner in the first run down, but it was not long before the Hampstead forwards got going, and it was noticeable that Shearcroft was inclined to open the game by sending long passes to the wings. A weak pass to Moore led to an opening being lost, and the first shot of importance came from Bucci. A corner kick followed, but, getting possession, Moody sent the ball into the adjoining field. A well-judged pass from Shearcroft to Sherman led to the right-winger, who is very fleet-footed, getting away and sending the ball into the danger zone, and a rare tussle was closed by offside being given against Hampstead. Hine had no rest in goal, but he kept his charge intact for 15 minutes, when he was well beaten by Shearcroft with a shot ten yards out.

This goal had the effect of putting more life into the Barking players, but the shooting was not accurate, and if the backs were beaten Smith was always prepared. One or two of his saves were remarkably good. Cool and collected, he delights in dodging opponents and bouncing the ball until he sees a clear opening for sending it up the field.

One of the finest shots was sent in by Bucci, and it well deserved a goal. One would have resulted had Moore not shot wildly after Bucci had struck the cross-bar. On another occasion, though tackled, Bucci sent across a shot which only just missed the mark. Shearcroft was good with his head as well as his feet, and one of his best efforts, apart from his scoring shots, was when he unexpectedly attempted to hook the ball into the net.

In the second half the play did not run quite so much in favour of Hampstead, although they were clearly the better side, and at no time looked in danger of losing both points. At the end of ten minutes Shearcroft got his second goal, from a pass by Moore, a good effort, and no doubt at this moment Shearcroft had ideas of emulating his hat trick of the previous week. But he was not selfish. True, there were times when no one would regard him as an ideal centre-forward, but he is a worker, and the wing players would not accuse him of failing to make passes. While one or two were ill-judged, for the most part they were fairly accurate. In times of pressure Young was extremely useful. He is short of inches, but managed to get his head to the ball when it was hovering perilously near to the goal-line. The Barking forwards can be dangerous, judging by some of their movements on Saturday, and, in particular, Clark sent in one shot which deserved better luck. However, try as they would, they could not beat Smith, and will undoubtedly agree that on the day's play they were up against a much superior side.

Towards the end Moore wriggled his way through several players and sent the ball into the net, but for some reason - probably through an offence by another player - a goal was disallowed.