Dulwich Hamlet 2 Uxbridge 2 (AET FT 1-1)
Uxbridge won 5-4 on penalties
London Challenge Cup Final
On the 16th of May last year, Les Cleevely triumphantly held aloft the London Challenge Cup at Charlton’s Valley ground. In altogether different surroundings, the cup was heartbreakingly wrenched from the Hamlet’s grasp in the cruellest of circumstances – a penalty shoot-out. At 10.35 p.m. on a dank evening in the heart of industrial Essex, Sean Dawson’s save from Veli Hakki’s penalty gave Uxbridge the Cup for the third time, leaving Dulwich players to reflect on missed chances and defensive errors that could have rendered penalties, indeed even extra-time, totally unnecessary.
From reasons known only to the bigwigs of the London FA, a team from South London and one from Middlesex were forced to made the long trip down the A13 to Dagenham to contest one of the most prestigious of County Cups. Indeed Uxbridge’s Supporter’s coach only made it to Victoria Road at 7-45; just a couple of minutes before the game eventually kicked off. Dave Garland was able to welcome his son Peter back into the line-up, although one doubts whether wild horses would have stopped him making an appearance even if his leg had been severed in that tackle on this very ground. Indeed Peter was to have a telling influence on the pattern of the game, until obviously tired, he was replaced at the start of extra-time.
From the start Dulwich looked the livelier, although it was the Dulwich goal that was threatened first with Uxbridge striker Lee Tunnell wasted a couple of good chances early on. Indeed, despite Dulwich controlling midfield through Peter Garland, the threat of an Uxbridge goal was not far away and both Kevin Smith and Francis Duku made vital interceptions in the box to deny Jamie Cleary and Dean Clarke respectively.
In the 14th minute Dulwich tested the evening’s eventual hero for the first time, when Danny Carroll met Peter Garland’s lofted ball with a thumping header at the back post, only for Dawson to parry his effort at the base of the post. The ball ran loose to Carroll who tried to square it back across goal, but despite the best efforts of John Cross to knock it in, the defence managed to clear their lines. 4 minutes later and Gary Hewitt tried an audacious lob that landed on the roof of the net before Tony Houghton’s hurried low drive was well off the intended target.
In the 24th minute, the deadlock was broken but not without much protest from Uxbridge. Dean Green burst into the box from the right, battling with Phil Granville on the goalline. The burly defender stumbled as he and Green battled for the ball. As he sprawled on the floor, he handled the ball in a bizarre effort to pretend he was getting his arms out of the way. Referee Alex Valentino, a scourge of the Hamlet in the past, most recently at Gravesend and Northfleet where he showed red cards to Carl Bartley and Peter Garland, had no hesitation in awarding a penalty despite protestations from the Uxbridge players. Cool as a cucumber up stepped Peter Garland to the spot and despatched the penalty wide of Dawson’s outstretched left hand to give the Hamlet the lead.
Despite going close on a number of occasions, most notably when Carroll had the ball whipped away from him by Mark Weedon after Green had pulled the ball back from the corner flag, the Uxbridge goal remained unbreached. Then, in the 32nd minute, Green spurted clear of a leaden-footed rearguard, only to hold the ball up when a full-frontal attack on Dawson’s goal seemed the best option. Instead, he found Peter Garland, who attempted an exquisite chip from distance. It looked goalbound all the way until that man Dawson intervened again tipping the ball over the bar at full stretch. From the corner, Dulwich were caught on the hop and it took a fine piece of defending from Hewitt, outpacing younger limbs to get back and hold up Chris Moore, who fluffed a poor shot wide.
Turning round 1-0 up it seemed as if the Cup was there for the taking and more so as Dulwich started the second half in top gear. Despite an early scare as the defence struggled to clear a freekick, it was the Uxbridge goal that bore the brunt of the initial action. Green’s screamer from the left flashed across the face of Dawson’s goal but whizzed just past the angle. Then a couple of minutes later Dawson was in the thick of the action again pushing over a close range headed from Green that seemed destined for the back of the net.
The importance of that save was underlined in the 64th minute, when a disastrous back pass from Green let in Uxbridge for the equaliser. As fans looked on in horror, Green attempted to find Cleevely with a pass from near the halfway line only to find the grateful Tunnell nipping in behind. Cleevely attempted to beat him to the ball, but the striker had the simple task of rounding the keeper and slipping the ball into the net.
Shocked by this catastrophe, the Hamlet hit back at the Uxbridge goal straight away, but Dawson seemed impregnable pushing out Carroll’s shot across the face of goal. The ball was not cleared and Green seemed to be fouled as a mess of legs tackled for the ball, but this time Mr Valentino resembled his namesake and remained silent. Likewise moments later when Tunnell went down in the box, amid pleas from his teammates.
The goal had given the men from Middlesex renewed confidence and they began causing the Hamlet defence myriad problems. Despite Duku being a hairsbreadth away from meeting a corner, won by Dean Palmer who had replaced Hewitt minutes before the equaliser, the bulk of the action switched to the opposite end. Smith incurred the wrath of the referee and a yellow card for a reckless late challenge on Moore as the pressure and the tension grew. Cleevely looked comfortable making a save from Clark’s close range header, but within a minute substitute Nicky Ryder had broken through to drill a shot wide of the keeper left hand post.
Chances were coming thick and fast as the advantage swung to Uxbridge, and after his opposite number’s earlier heroics now it was the turn of Cleevely to earn his corn, smother the ball at the feet of Clark after Tunnell had slipped the ball through to him. Five minutes later and he denied Moore, turning his low shot around the post. As the game moved into stoppage time Dulwich were forced into ever more desperate measures to clear their lines. Two stunning diving headers from Palmer aided the resistance and somehow the Dulwich goal weathered an interminable 5 minutes of stoppage time that seemed to last an eternity.
So, twelve months on, Dulwich and Uxbridge would be forced onto the field for a further half-an-hour’s football to determine who would be the last to lift the London Challenge Cup. Mark McGibbon was brought on to replace Peter Garland, looking suitably tired after 90 minutes of 110% effort.
Both sides created opportunities in the opening exchanges of extra-time, but it was Dulwich who regained the lead in the 99th minute through Tony Chin’s fourth goal of the season. A corner was only half cleared to Smith and when he despatched a teasing cross into the box, it ran loose straight as defenders and attackers battled for the ball. Chin picked it up just inside the box, slamming the ball in the back of the net off the outside of his boot. For once Dawson could only look in dismay as the ball curled past his powerless hand.
As the teams turned round 6 minutes later, Dulwich knew that to hold on for a further 15 minutes would cement their place in history. Sadly, it was not to be. Moments into the second half of extra-time, the passion boiled over after an atrocious foul on Chin by Stuart Bamford. The game threatened to degenerate into an unseemly brawl before wiser and cooler heads, among them Dulwich captain Cleevely, brokered a nervous peace. Then four minutes in the half Uxbridge found themselves level once again courtesy of another ghastly error in defence. Duku, attempting to dribble the ball out of his own penalty area when a swift hoof into Row Z would have sufficed, was caught in possession by Ryder. Despite appeals that the Dulwich defender had been the victim of an illegal assault, the substitute pulled the ball back to the unmarked Gavin Bamford who rammed the ball past Cleevely from ten yards out.
Once again Uxbridge raised their game after this gift and, as the ball pinged from one end of the field to the other, Uxbridge supporters finally found a voice to try and compete with the Rabble who had been vociferous throughout. Living on a knife-edge, the action swung from end to end. Clark struck a post from 20 yards, with Simon Poulter sticking his follow-up into the side netting. Next minute it was the Hamlet on the attack and Green feeding Palmer, steaming up the right, only for him to put the ball wide of the post with only Dawson to beat.
Disaster struck with just 4 minutes left on the clock when Carroll was forced to leave the field of play, limping badly, to be replaced by Hakki. Tony Houghton’s piledriver that Dawson grabbed at the second attempt was Dulwich’s last serious effort as the final seconds became one-way traffic, with Cleevely’s goal leading a charmed life. Twice the lines were cleared at the last gasp, then in stoppage Cleevely denied Clark with a stunning save, turning his ferocious shot onto the post.
So it was that the last ever London Challenge Cup would be decided by that cruellest of footballing mistresses – the penalty shoot-out. Two hours of football and the destiny of the trophy would be decided by the ability of tired legs to summon up enough strength to beat a goalkeeper from 12 yards. Cleevely was a whisker away from getting his hand on Clark’s first kick, but it was 0-1. Next up Smith for Dulwich. Then disaster! As he went to kick the ball, his legs disappeared from under him and the ball sailed over the bar. Next three Uxbridge penalties. Goal – Kevin Cleary. Goal – Nicky Ryder. Goal – Chris Moore. Next three Dulwich penalties. Goal – Dean Green. Goal – Tony Houghton. Goal – John Cross. So the score stood at 4-3 to Uxbridge. The fate of the cup rested with Mark Weedon, but he rattled the ball against the post. Dulwich were still there. Mark Garland had to score to send the contest into sudden death. To the immense relief of Dulwich supporters he rolled the ball into the left-hand corner of the goal and things were level. Now for sudden death. Taking the mantle of responsibility himself, Uxbridge’s captain Mark Gill strode purposefully to the spot, smashing the ball into the back of the net. Cleevely was close to saving it but the power of the shot beat him. For a moment, Dulwich seemed unsure as to would be taking their sixth penalty then the diminutive figure of Hakki stepped forward. All voices hushed as he took the kick, then a mixture of groans and cheers shattered the silence. Groans from Dulwich, cheers from Uxbridge for their hero of the hour keeper Dawson who had won them the cup with a simple save from a nervous kick.
A funereal atmosphere descended on the Dulwich camp, as their realisation sank in the first team’s season would be without a silver lining. Dave Garland and Micky Read wandered amongst their players tried to console them but deep down they knew that in truth this Cup had not been won by Uxbridge but lost, nay thrown away, by Dulwich.
Team:
Les Cleevely, Gary Hewitt (12: Dean Palmer 61), Kevin Smith, Danny Carroll (14: Veli Hakki 116), Mark Garland, Francis Duku, John Cross, Tony Houghton, Dean Green, Peter Garland (15: Mark McGibbon 91), Tony Chin,
Man of the Match: Peter Garland: Ran the show in midfield and his departure before extra-time was the turning point.
