Dulwich Hamlet 1 Charlton Athletic XI 1
Pre-Season Challenge Match
Saturday 26th July 1997
Pre-Season Challenge Match
Saturday 26th July 1997
A 57th minute goal from striker Simon Liddle gave Hamlet a deserved lead in their morning match against Charlton Athletic last Saturday, but they couldn’t quite hold out to register their first win of the pre-season campaign. With jut five minutes left on the clock the Addicks’ Kevin Lisbie pulled the scores level with a close range effort, despite a superb from substitute goalkeeper Mark Bowen. The Dulwich joint management team of John Ryan and Mick Browne could be well satisfied with their squad’s performance at Champion Hill which at last saw them grab a goal after half-a-dozen matches of trying.
Hamlet aim to put that right and were still without new signing Steve Restarick – the marksman who was planned to partner Paul Whitmarsh up front come the start of the competitive season, until he required a groin operation in the close season which will rule him out until late August at least. In the new boy’s stead Johnson Hippolyte was played alongside Whitmarsh and, although he gave the Charlton back four some problems, when the time came to polish off the opportunities his finishing was poor to say the least.
Luke Anderson gave notice of intent early on with a crunching tackle on young full back Paul Konchesky that put a premature end to the full back’s participation and spent the afternoon putting in the sort of tackles that might make the more sensitive soul wince. At one stage he was taken off – conspirators might say to preserve the Charlton boys from more injury! However he was back in the fray later on and was unfortunate not to notch up a goal following a skilful Hamlet move.
It was in defence where Dulwich looked the most impressive with Simon Connell giving one of best performances to date in a Hamlet shirt whilst his poised partner, the dependable Dave Stephenson, followed on from his solid showing in the previous games against Fulham. Between the sticks Kevin Robbins took the gloves for the opening 45 minutes and though he spilled a long-range speculative effort in the early exchanges, causing a large intake of breath from the Hamlet faithful, he was rarely bothered as he dealt comfortably with the little that his unyielding rearguard allowed through. Second half and the gloves passed to New Zealander Mark Bowen, and with Charlton more determined to break the resistance of troublesome Hamlet, the shots rained in thick and fast only for Bowen to pull save after save out of the top drawer, for though Charlton had taken the bulk of the first team across the Irish Sea for a tour of Erin, those that donned the Valiant’s shirt this day seemed determined to show the management they did not deserve to left at home. Indeed the squad brought to Champion Hill by Keith Peacock boosted a host of names that will expect to be challenging of a place in the Charlton first team once the action starts in earnest including striker Keith Jones, Kevin Lisbie and Paul Emblen and a number of youngsters who may yet higher heights including the aforementioned Konchesky, Scott Parker and Jason Tindall. One or two though seemed in a huff to left at home and played as if disinterested. However that should not detract from Dulwich’s performance as they matched the Addicks in most if not all departments with only Brendan O’Connell rising above the performance of the hosts.
It might have been so different had Charlton’s Jones not seen his lopping header crash back off the crossbar early on the first half, an early goal perhaps galvanising the visitors. However the ever dependable Lee Akers matched that as his pace did for the offside trap but focused goalkeeping from Nathan Freeman shuffled the Hamlet’s every own jack-of-all-trades wide and though his strike beat the young custodian, the tight angle saw it nestle in the side netting.
The usual half-time pack-shuffling seemed to disrupt the Hamlet and they found themselves indebted to replacement number one Bowen as he flung himself full length to fingertip away a screaming long range effort.
As the hour mark approached barren, Liddle turned on the magic with a goal to grace any game. Hippolyte incisive intelligent pass picked out his fellow hetman, Liddle taking on Charlton centre-half Rob Raven, twisting him first right then left leaving him leaden-footed as he let rip with a thunderous left footer from the edge of the area that gave Freeman between the sticks nary a ghost of chance as the net bulged behind him.
The goal at last forced Charlton’s sulky adolescents to rise from their torpor but between them and an equaliser they found a gatekeeper as ferocious as Cerberus and as determined not to be passed, Bowen repelled attack after attack, battering away a succession of free kicks including one wicked deflection that he somehow got across to block with a knee. However all those heroics were all in vain as Charlton’s gained reward for their siege of the Dulwich goal as, in the 85th minute, Emblen powered to the goal line, lashing a low cross into the heart of the six yard box where Lisbie was waiting to dispatch the ball with clinical accuracy low and hard past the crestfallen Bowen.
Team:
Kevin Robbins (Mark Bowen); Lee Akers (Otis Hutchings); Micky Rootes; Dave Stephenson; Russell Edwards; Michael Johnson (Martin Ferney); Dave Bourne (Steve McKimm); Paul Whitmarsh (Simon Liddell); Johnson Hippolyte (Mark McAllister); Luke Anderson; Simon Connell
Attendance: 341
Referee: Mr J W Pettitt (Welling, Kent)
