Hickford the hero as Tudors pounce late to down the Hawks

The Tudors took the lead with a 15th-minute goal from James Potton, and Havant had Shamir Mullings sent off 10 minutes from time as Hemel looked to be heading for the three points.

In a dramatic finish, Josh Hill equalised in the 94th minute, only for Hemel to snatch the win seven minutes into stoppage-time through MK Dons loanee Hickford.

In a fairly even start to the game, Graeme Montgomery shot wide of the post for Hemel, before Scott Donnelly skimmed the bar for the hosts with a long range free-kick.

It was Hemel who broke the deadlock on the quarter of an hour mark when the ball was swung into the box, and Potton timed his jump perfectly to head home for 1-0.

Hill came close for Havant on 35 minutes, but a largely uneventful half came to a close with the Tudors in the lead.

Ten minutes into the second half, Hemel had a great opportunity to go 2-0 up as Reiss Greenidge found himself six yards out with just Ryan Young to beat, but the Ebbsfleet loaee completely mis-kicked the ball and the Hawks were able to clear their lines.

Adam Bailey-Dennis was called into action to produce a fine tackle to deny Mullings the equaliser soon afterwards, and things went from bad to worse for the hosts with 10 minutes to play as Mullings received his second yellow card.

Shaun Shields had the chance to make sure of the points for Hemel but shot wide, and it looked as if that miss would prove costly as Hill headed home deep into stoppage time to bring the scores level.

That was not the end of the drama, however, as Hickford struck two minutes later to snatch a vital three points for Dean Brennan’s side.