FA Trophy Preliminary Round Replay
Tuesday 10th October 2006
“And gentlemen in England, now abed, Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day.”
Young lads, sitting upon their grandfather’s knee, might have listened incredulous to tall tales of matches such as these in days of yore when sweets were rationed but goals were not. Flat caps were de rigueur in the days Champion Hill last witnessed a game of such outright lunacy as this contest for the dubious privilege of a trip to Borehamwood in the First Round of this competition, though that will come with the morning hangover for Tooting’s travelling band for whom the biggest prize on offer was bragging rights till next this two cross swords in anger. For Hamlet there is only introspection, half-a-dozen goals but still defeat, careless defending as much at fault as Tooting firepower.
With Hamlet unchanged from Saturday, it was left to the visitors to make the alterations with Simon Mitchell and Jamie Findlay elevated from the bench to the starting line-up. Barring Henry Darko, this was the selection that had ended the original tie on a high and they opened the evening’s entertainment in a similar manner. Craig Tanner posted intention with a crunching tackle that left Nicolas Plumain crumpled on the floor as the first whistle was still drifting off on the breeze. A rattled Hamlet then found themselves trailing with just two minutes on the clock as a left wing cross as nodded out by Danny Moore only as far as Matt York. A delicately placed header from the Tooting skipper wide to Allan McLeod, overlapping down the right, set up the one-time Hamlet man to spin over a deep cross to the back of the six yard box to the lurking Paul Vines and despite Dulwich custodian Chris Lewington getting a hand to the ball there was no way he could prevent the striker’s powerful header finding the back of the net.
Vines might have turned villain on 10 minutes when a heavy challenge on Kenny Beaney gave the Hamlet a free kick a yard outside the penalty area but Beaney failed to extract vengeance as he curled the dead ball over the crossbar. No matter, three more minutes elapsed and Dulwich were back on level terms. Chris Dickson bullied Dean Hamlin off the ball before powering towards goal. Drawing keeper Dave King away from his goal, Dickson squared the ball across goal to the waiting Phil Williams and the wingman had the simplest of tasks to tuck the ball into the net as it lay invitingly open in front of him.
The two sides exchanged chances as first Dickson, after some tricky juggling of the ball, tried a long distance stab at goal before Vines unleashed a steamer of a drive on the run that brought an equally stunning save out of young Lewington as he flung himself across goal to one-handedly turn the ball past his left upright.
Midway through the half and Hamlet were forced into a reshuffle as centre-half Gavin Dayes limped from the field of combat to be replaced by Cedric Meeko. Back into the heart of defence dropped Daniel Nwanze, Meeko taking on his midfield enforcer role. The substitute soon found himself incurring the ire of the referee as his first tackle brought a yellow card. This piece of eccentric officiating from Mr Collins may have irked but his next key contribution was to invoke apoplexy amongst the Hamlet following as he awarded his third penalty of the tie. Under minimal contact and zero protest from the Black and White hoards behind the goal, Vines went to ground in the area and suddenly Mr Collins was pointing to the spot. York again took on responsibility and, if his Saturday conversion had lacked conviction, there was no doubt as to where this one was going as he hammered the ball high into the top corner of the net beyond Lewington’s despairing dive.
Attacking down the left, Williams created an opening that ended with Beaney’s effort curling wide from 20 yards out. Soon after King was almost embarrassed as a low ball behind the defence, a fraction too far ahead of Dickson, evaded the keeper’s grasp but rolled wide of the far post much to King’s relief. Back the action swung to the other end as Tooting forced a corner; the omnipresent Vines arriving unmarked at the front of the six yard box only to bullet his header over the bar. Right on half time, Tooting thought they had been gifted a second penalty as Nwanze seemed to handle a left wing cross but the whistle from Mr Collins was to signal the break, not another spot kick.
Half time saw Dulwich replace the ineffectual David Moore with the lightning quick Eniola Oluwa and his pace was to play a direct influence in Hamlet’s next equaliser on 50 minutes. Haring down the left wing, Oluwa laid in a low cross that King seemed to have bravely claimed at the feet of the predatory Dickson but somehow the ball squirmed from his grasp. With the goal gaping Williams might have capitalised instantly but he chose to take on Tanner only to be unceremoniously upended. As Tanner was booked for his misdemeanour, Dickson shaped up to take the spot kick, oblivious to Hamlin’s attempts to unnerve him, kicking the ball off the spot as he walked past, an offence committed under the gaze of the assistant referee but going unpunished. Calmness personified, Dickson steeped up to the mark and brazenly rolled the ball home as he sent King the wrong way.
Dulwich delirium was swiftly substituted for Tooting thrills as the visitors restored their lead almost instantly. The Hamlet rearguard went to sleep as Vines nodded a long punt into the space between keeper and defence, Findlay capitalising as he latched on to the ball and slid it nonchalantly past Lewington. Twice Dickson threatened to bring things level again but a shot out of nothing was well held by King before the Hamlet striker latched on to a neat pass in the area, only to drive his effort wide of the target.
On 57 minutes, Tooting gave themselves rare breathing space as Dulwich’s glass-jawed defence was laid low once more with Mitchell picking up a pass across the middle before letting fly with a dipping drive from distance that gave a leaping Lewington no chance.
King denied Dickson with a fine one-handed stop as the striker fired a shot in from an acute angle, but Dulwich were to receive another injury blow soon after as Tozer was forced from the field. With no defenders on the bench, Sol Pinnock took the centre-half’s place, the Hamlet’s formation a throw back to the days of dubbin, three across the back, five in attack. Pinnock did not have long to announce his arrival as Hamlet were awarded a free kick on the brink of the area. Up steeped Pinnock, curling the ball up, over the wall and under the crossbar as King flung himself in vain to keep it out.
Vines missed a great chance to restore the two goal four minutes later when he found himself in space of the left of the area only to drive a wayward shot wide of the far post with the goal at his mercy. That miss would soon come back to haunt the Terrors. The racehorse pace of the coltish Pinnock proved too much for the carthorse of the Tooting defence and, as King tried to narrow the angle, Pinnock restored parity insouciantly tucking the ball inside the near post of the advancing custodian.
On came the pocket battleship of the Terrors’ bench, Henry Darko, the young pretender taking the place of battling veteran Mitchell up front but soon Tooting plans were in disarray as McLeod foolishly allowed his tongue to get the better off him. Dithering over a throw, McLeod was incandesced when the referee reversed the throw, his invective earning a second yellow card and dismissal, despite Tooting coach Frank Coles attempts to pull him off before the referee could get his book out.
Remarkably the ten men found extra heart and with three minutes to go it seemed as if the match had been won as Tanner pumped in a deep free kick from the left wing and Sergeant York underlined his leadership, his header lopping crazily over Lewington and dropping behind him into the net. Still the madness was not ended. Hamlet appealed in vain for a penalty as Williams’s headlong dash into the box ended as his legs were removed from under him but the pressure was sustained. The ball found its way to Oluwa who drilled the ball low across the face of the 6 yard box to where Daniel Jones lurked at the back. The youngster kept his head, firing the ball low back across King. In stoppage time, Jones had the chance to win the game as he was sent scampering away down the right but from a difficult angle he lifted his shot wide of the goal with only King standing between him and glory.
Half an hour the Wood would have to wait before they found out their opponents. Early on in extra time, Nwanze met a corner only to loop his header over the crossbar, before the goals started to flow once more. 103 minutes, Hamlet rampaged upfield, the ball finding Jones on the edge of the area. A neat side step eluded his marker but there was a pinch of good fortune about the goal for though the power of the shot might have made King redundant, a deflection left him floundering.
Next attack and Pinnock dragged a shot wide of the upright, but with Hamlet lacking the wisdom of age, they found themselves caught short at the back, Vines taking on and beating Plumain, before an exocet missile of a shot unerringly found its target.
The combatants might have been tiring but there was no let up in the thrills and spills. Dickson’s storming run carved out an opening for Jones, but King reacted in timely fashion to block for a corner. Then cometh the hour, cometh the man as the Hamlet defence was again left in tatters. Adam Broomhead’s speculative shot looked bound for nowhere until it cannoned off a defender into the path of substitute Darko. The reserve team graduate’s moment of glory would not pass him by. Calmly he gathered the ball, waited until Lewington committed himself then hammered a ferocious drive into the far corner of the net.
The cavalry charge was stilled, the blast of the blunderbuss and stench of cordite lingered in the air as Hamlet regrouped themselves for an all out onslaught but to no avail. The facts spoke for themselves, five times Tooting had led in this match, just once had the Hamlet held the upper hand, quality goals scored but excruciating ones conceded. For the victors and neutrals a night to savour, for me, I must hie myself to a dark corner.
Teams:
DHFC: Chris Lewington; Nicolas Plumain; Danny Moore; Daniel Nwanze (Capt.); Gavin Dayes (Cedric Meeko 22); Lewis Tozer (Sol Pinnock 65); David Moore (Eniola Oluwa HT); Kenny Beaney; Daniel Jones; Chris Dickson; Phil Williams
Subs not used: Luke Cornwall, Theo Fairweather-Johnson
T&MUFC: Dave King; Allan McLeod; Craig Tanner; Adam Broomhead; Dean Hamlin; Aaron Day; Vernon Francis; Matt York; Paul Vines (Jason Pinnock 108); Simon Mitchell (Henry Darko 84); Jamie Findlay (Barry Gardner 96)
Subs: Adam Locke; Sheikh Ceesay (GK)
Attendance: 288
Officials:
Referee: Lee Collins (Aldershot)
Assistant Referees: Arif Khalfe (Lambeth) & Mark Williams (Barnes)
Goalscoring:
0-1 T&MUFC Paul Vines 2nd minute
1-1 DHFC Phil Williams 13th minute
1-2 T&MFC Matt York (Penalty) 34th minute
2-2 DHFC Chris Dickson (Penalty) 50th minute
2-3 T&MFC Jamie Findlay 51st minute
2-4 T&MFC Simon Mitchell 57th minute
3-4 DHFC Sol Pinnock 74th minute
4-4 DHFC Sol Pinnock 82nd minute
4-5 T&MFC Matt York 87th minute
5-5 DHFC Daniel Jones 89th minute
Extra Time
6-5 DHFC Daniel Jones 98th minute
6-6 T&MFC Paul Vines 104th minute
6-7 T&MFC Henry Darko 112th minute
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