What an exceeding Good Friday this was for the Hamlet. A day at the seaside and three points in the bag. Okay so Canvey Island is hardly the Costa Del Sol, but at least the locals are more welcoming, surprisingly so after Dulwich’s smash and grab act had enabled Dave Garland’s pink and blue army to wend its merry way back to SE22 with a double over the high-flying Islanders completed. That this trip was so successful was odd because, to paraphrase a certain Kevin Keegan, there was only one team in the match for almost the entire ninety minutes. How Canvey failed to score today will be pondered by eminent analysts for years to come. Les Cleevely made a couple of spectacular saves to maintain equilibrium, but a lot of the blame for their failure to hit the net must lie with the Canvey players, who tried to play too much football when the simple ball would have done the trick. They even contrived to miss a penalty, the hosts’ Steve Tilson burying his spotkick in the advertising hoardings.
The changes were rung with Mark McGibbon, coming in for Dean Green, up front and Declan Perkins, one of the few bright spots in Monday’s capitulation to Farnborough, partnering him in attack. Dean Palmer returned in defence, after having the good fortune to miss the previous game through injury.
From the start there looked likely to be only one winner of this game. They played some delightful football, passing the ball around on the floor and utilising the wings to good effect. Then they decided to attack and that’s where things started to go wrong, for try as they might they could not turn territorial advantage into goals. True the Dulwich defence worked hard to keep out the home side, but some of the openings Canvey created had goal stamped all over them.
The home side had a clear cut chance to open the scoring as early as the tenth minute, but Paul Abrahams was left clutching his head in his hands after meeting Neil Gregory’s cross with a stumbling header at the far post. Cleevely was beaten, but unbelievably Abrahams put the ball the wrong side of the upright with the goal at his mercy.
After this brush with disaster, Dulwich may have though Lady Luck was smiling favourably on them. They were doubly sure in the 22nd minute when Tilson missed his penalty. Chris Duffy, chief string-puller in the Canvey midfield, danced down the left wing before slipping the ball into Steve Parmenter. He weaved through a couple of half-hearted tackles before his progress was halted by Mark Garland’s rash tackle just inside the box. No doubt about - a penalty. Up stepped Tilson, scorer of 25 goals before today. Cleevely dived to his left; the ball went to his right – a long way to his right. This miss was so bad that probably the closest description is to compare it to Geoff Thomas’ now infamous attempt for England. Get the picture?
Canvey were forced to shuffle their defence just past the half-hour when David Kerslake, once of Tottenham, replaced the injured Steve Ward. Not that he made much difference as Ashley Harrison in goal was rarely troubled by the Dulwich strikeforce, too often caught offside by a well-marshalled rearguard. A rare break in the Canvey domination almost sent Dulwich in a halftime a goal up. Canvey’s defenders seemed stunned when Perkins snapped their offside trap. From 20 yards out, he curled in powerful that had Harrison rooted to his spot. The keeper’s countenance turned from one of horror to one of intense relief as he watched the smack against the crossbar and rebound to safety.
Somehow the Hamlet made it half-time without conceding a goal, but it was might close. If the Islanders had turned their supremacy into goals, the manger’s half-time pep talk might have sounded like Chubby Brown concert, probably with more swearing.
New half, same pattern. Canvey dominating although McGibbon and Perkins were starting to exploit little holes in the home defence. Indeed McGibbon wasted a wonderful chance in the sixth minute of the half when once again the offside trap was sprung, only for the striker to drill a low shot into the side netting. Still it nice for Harrison to get a feel of the ball, since Cleevely seemed to be hogging at the seawall end of the ground.
The Hamlet goal led a charmed life as Canvey stranglehold on the midfield grew. Both Kevin Smith and Tony Chin were forced into last ditch clearances to keep the scoreline level. Abrahams went close to scoring, Cleevely denying him. Then in the 59th minute, it was Cleevely again riding to Dulwich’s rescue with a stupendous save at full stretch to keep Gregory’s rising shot out of the net.
Dulwich attacks were becoming more numerous and more potentially dangerous. But then they were forced into a change when Perkins’ participation in the game was ended by a crunching tackle from Peter Smith that earned the Canvey defender a yellow card. Despite hobbling around for a couple of minutes, it was obvious he could not continue and he was replaced by Dean Green.
Within the space of a couple of minutes, both teams struck the woodwork. First Duffy hit the inside of the post after Mark’s Stimson through ball. Almost immediately Dulwich struck back when Carroll’s bullet header from McGibbon’s cross came back off the crossbar, before being bundled behind for a corner. In the 69th minute, Harrison was forced to make a speedy dash from his line to block McGibbon’s effort from inside the box.
In the 81st minute, Veli Hakki replaced McGibbon and the next minute the stalemate was broken. As Dulwich swept out of defence, the ball made its way to Green, just outside the box. Receiving the ball from the left, he nipped past one tackle before firing in a right foot shot from just inside the box. He seemed to stub his effort into the ground, but to the delight of the Dulwich fans behind the goal, the ball lopped beyond the despairing reach of Harrison before plopping into the back of the net for what would ultimately be the winner.
During the closing stages the home side pressed hard for an equaliser, but the goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of them. They did have the ball in the net in stoppage time only for it to be disallowed for a push. Even with the referee finding seven minutes of stoppage time, only the dyke bursting would prevent Dulwich laying claim to all three points.
The Hamlet certainly enjoy playing the Islanders. Two games, two victories and no goals conceded. All this despite the fact that over the 180 minutes the side in control for the majority has been Canvey. Then again, was that Hansie Cronje picking up his winnings from the local bookmaker? Hmm!
The changes were rung with Mark McGibbon, coming in for Dean Green, up front and Declan Perkins, one of the few bright spots in Monday’s capitulation to Farnborough, partnering him in attack. Dean Palmer returned in defence, after having the good fortune to miss the previous game through injury.
From the start there looked likely to be only one winner of this game. They played some delightful football, passing the ball around on the floor and utilising the wings to good effect. Then they decided to attack and that’s where things started to go wrong, for try as they might they could not turn territorial advantage into goals. True the Dulwich defence worked hard to keep out the home side, but some of the openings Canvey created had goal stamped all over them.
The home side had a clear cut chance to open the scoring as early as the tenth minute, but Paul Abrahams was left clutching his head in his hands after meeting Neil Gregory’s cross with a stumbling header at the far post. Cleevely was beaten, but unbelievably Abrahams put the ball the wrong side of the upright with the goal at his mercy.
After this brush with disaster, Dulwich may have though Lady Luck was smiling favourably on them. They were doubly sure in the 22nd minute when Tilson missed his penalty. Chris Duffy, chief string-puller in the Canvey midfield, danced down the left wing before slipping the ball into Steve Parmenter. He weaved through a couple of half-hearted tackles before his progress was halted by Mark Garland’s rash tackle just inside the box. No doubt about - a penalty. Up stepped Tilson, scorer of 25 goals before today. Cleevely dived to his left; the ball went to his right – a long way to his right. This miss was so bad that probably the closest description is to compare it to Geoff Thomas’ now infamous attempt for England. Get the picture?
Canvey were forced to shuffle their defence just past the half-hour when David Kerslake, once of Tottenham, replaced the injured Steve Ward. Not that he made much difference as Ashley Harrison in goal was rarely troubled by the Dulwich strikeforce, too often caught offside by a well-marshalled rearguard. A rare break in the Canvey domination almost sent Dulwich in a halftime a goal up. Canvey’s defenders seemed stunned when Perkins snapped their offside trap. From 20 yards out, he curled in powerful that had Harrison rooted to his spot. The keeper’s countenance turned from one of horror to one of intense relief as he watched the smack against the crossbar and rebound to safety.
Somehow the Hamlet made it half-time without conceding a goal, but it was might close. If the Islanders had turned their supremacy into goals, the manger’s half-time pep talk might have sounded like Chubby Brown concert, probably with more swearing.
New half, same pattern. Canvey dominating although McGibbon and Perkins were starting to exploit little holes in the home defence. Indeed McGibbon wasted a wonderful chance in the sixth minute of the half when once again the offside trap was sprung, only for the striker to drill a low shot into the side netting. Still it nice for Harrison to get a feel of the ball, since Cleevely seemed to be hogging at the seawall end of the ground.
The Hamlet goal led a charmed life as Canvey stranglehold on the midfield grew. Both Kevin Smith and Tony Chin were forced into last ditch clearances to keep the scoreline level. Abrahams went close to scoring, Cleevely denying him. Then in the 59th minute, it was Cleevely again riding to Dulwich’s rescue with a stupendous save at full stretch to keep Gregory’s rising shot out of the net.
Dulwich attacks were becoming more numerous and more potentially dangerous. But then they were forced into a change when Perkins’ participation in the game was ended by a crunching tackle from Peter Smith that earned the Canvey defender a yellow card. Despite hobbling around for a couple of minutes, it was obvious he could not continue and he was replaced by Dean Green.
Within the space of a couple of minutes, both teams struck the woodwork. First Duffy hit the inside of the post after Mark’s Stimson through ball. Almost immediately Dulwich struck back when Carroll’s bullet header from McGibbon’s cross came back off the crossbar, before being bundled behind for a corner. In the 69th minute, Harrison was forced to make a speedy dash from his line to block McGibbon’s effort from inside the box.
In the 81st minute, Veli Hakki replaced McGibbon and the next minute the stalemate was broken. As Dulwich swept out of defence, the ball made its way to Green, just outside the box. Receiving the ball from the left, he nipped past one tackle before firing in a right foot shot from just inside the box. He seemed to stub his effort into the ground, but to the delight of the Dulwich fans behind the goal, the ball lopped beyond the despairing reach of Harrison before plopping into the back of the net for what would ultimately be the winner.
During the closing stages the home side pressed hard for an equaliser, but the goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of them. They did have the ball in the net in stoppage time only for it to be disallowed for a push. Even with the referee finding seven minutes of stoppage time, only the dyke bursting would prevent Dulwich laying claim to all three points.
The Hamlet certainly enjoy playing the Islanders. Two games, two victories and no goals conceded. All this despite the fact that over the 180 minutes the side in control for the majority has been Canvey. Then again, was that Hansie Cronje picking up his winnings from the local bookmaker? Hmm!
Team: Les Cleevely, Dean Palmer (14: Gary Hewitt 55), Kevin Smith, Danny Carroll, Mark Garland, Francis Duku, John Cross, Tony Houghton, Mark McGibbon (12: Veli Hakki 81), Declan Perkins (15: Dean Green 64), Tony Chin
Man of the match: Les Cleevely: a fine display capped by that marvellous save in the second half.
Man of the match: Les Cleevely: a fine display capped by that marvellous save in the second half.
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