Dulwich Hamlet 3 Leatherhead 3

Dulwich Hamlet 3 Leatherhead 3

Ryman Isthmian League Division One South

Friday 14^th March 2008

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?"

Floating fans making a Friday night pilgrimage to Champion Hill, bearing not the baggage of allegiance to Hamlet or Tanners might have purred with glee at the fruitful fare laid before them. A half-a-dozen goals surely enough to pleasure the proletarian but for the purist only weeping and gnashing of teeth at a hotchpotch contest riddled with clangers, peppered with snatched passes, one neither custodian would care to recall come the cold light of day.

The rag-tag, threadbare throng of travelling Tanners must have feared the worst as a mini stampeded saw Dulwich came hammering at Leatherhead's door from the off. Incisive Hamlet versus desperate Tanners. A whipped Sebastian Schoburgh cross nodded out to Benson Paka, a crowd of green shirts swarming around him to snuff out that threat but then Meshach Nugent latching on the ball, muscling past a marker a striking a sweet shot from outside the area a fraction wide of 'keeper Aaron France's right hand upright. Keystone Kops defending, all pie in the face, banana skin tackles, swinging boots into thin air. Apt then that that the opening goal would come coating with the lacquer of luck, though that it came from the boot of the enigmatic Schoburgh, one is in half a mind that invention outweighed intention. In came a throw bound for the near post and Nugent, but nodded out by a high-climbing defender. The ball reached Schoburgh, lurking on the edge of the area, and with a swing of the boot, the ball was hooked skywards, looping beyond the frozen figure of France, rooted to the spot as the ball arced over him and dropped into the far top corner of the net.

The goal should have been the clarion call for a cavalry charge towards goal from the men in Pink and Blue, but fortune favoured the Green battalion, who survived by hook or by crook, Dulwich frustratingly unable to build upon their lead and ultimately paying the cost as defensive blunderings turned that goal advantage lead into a goal deficit with two crazy minutes. Conceding a needless free kick wide on the left wing, five yards inside their own half, Dulwich readied themselves for Billy Marshall's delivery, green and white jostling with pink and blue. Pelted deep into the penalty area Marshall's free kick seemed to be a textbook gather for Sheikh Ceesay, but his hands failed him as the ball slipped through his grasp and into his net. The travelling gaggle seemed unmoved. A second goal two minutes later similarly failed to rouse them, perhaps inured by the capricious play of their team this term. This time it was collective culpability within the Dulwich defence as Steve McNamara scurried away down the left wing, whipping a low drive into the six yard box, Carl Gibbs the beneficiary as defender and 'keeper vacillated, the Tanners' striker stealing in between the dithering duo to stab the ball across goal and into the far corner of the net.

The balance of global gaucherie was swiftly restored as Leatherhead's France presented Dulwich with an equaliser upon a silver salver 'ere 60 seconds had swept by. In came a free kick, a powder-puff punch from France as he fearfully flapped like a turkey confronted by Bernard Matthews with a smile and a chopper. Amidst the flurry, the ball was knocked across to Charlie Taylor and the tyro striker continued to mine his current rich vein of form, gathering the ball to hook past the discomfited France as he tried to undo his error. Still he managed to reprieve himself as Schoburgh puncture a porous wall with low drilled free kick that the cautious custodian gathered to his breast as a mother might a found child.

The game blended brilliance and bungling, incisive runs from wingers all to provide the panache, defenders and attackers slamming a custard pie in its face with tentative tackles and faltering finishing. The turnaround saw Hamlet fortunes flicker as quick fire start to the second half saw them come so close to restoring that lost lead. First minute and Schoburgh, left alone on the right periphery of the area, flayed a low drive across the face of goal. Taylor went hunting for the ball at the back stick as France was beaten but could not provide the killer touch as the ball zipped the wrong side of the far post. Moments later Taylor was looking to make amends battling his way into the box but with the resilient Ryan Palmer in close attendance he could not fire off a shot in anger.

That cantankerous goal machine Dave Stevens, loved and loathed at Leatherhead as both loyal Tanner and soldier of fortune, as much so at the Hill, once more endeared himself to the locals as he and Ceesay exchanged heated words amidst a cockpit awaiting a corner. For a moment, an ugly scene bubbled at the brink of eruption as the spat sucked into others, but calm won over even though the two antagonists had to suffer the indignity of a schoolmasterly lecture from baby faced referee Mr Austin and cautions. Perhaps Hamlet were suffering the hangover of this scuffle when they were caught out by a first rate counter attack down their left flank mere moments later. Ricky Dobson beaten, the ball was pulled back and absentee defending gifted Leatherhead the go-ahead goal again, with late-arriving midfielder Matt Jones, as lonely as a leper on the edge of the penalty area, met a low ball from the right sweet and true to beat Ceesay low at his near post.

A free kick frittered away as Schoburgh lashed at the ball to send it spinning wide, its architect one of three to be sacrificed with 25 minutes left as Dulwich chased wraith-like victory. Schoburgh, Billy Chattaway and Ryan Bernard all made way with Osman Sesay, Darryl Plummer and Stanley Muguo respectively entering the fray with the requisite urgency injected. Deep throw to the near post, Nugent thrusting past his marker and firing in a shot from tight angle that almost crawled over the supine 'keeper. Having instigated the opening with a pass to Paka, Taylor should perhaps have done better than to hook a shot off target from 8 yards out when Benson Paka's shot deflected off Meshach to him.

Dulwich's requisite "penalty that got away" reared its ugly head soon after when Nugent appeared to be manhandled as he burst in the box, pawing hands trying to pull him back as had the goal in his sights, failing to send him tumbling but doing enough to ensure the final shot crashed into the side netting. Honesty not the best policy methinks.

That injustice was all but forgotten when Dulwich claimed another equaliser just two minutes later. Again providence would play its part. Paka's pass cannoned off the man in black, any recriminations swiftly turned to cheers as the ball fell at the feet Nugent on the edge of the D. Still there was much work to be done, Nugent thundering like Suffolk dray past a brace of powerless defenders, penetrating the penalty area and lashing a low, hard, angled drive beyond the fingertips of the diving France, the ball making a cosy nest in the corner of the net.

It should have been 4-3 two minutes when Nugent trotted into the right pocket, pumping in a pitch-perfect cross right on to the head of Taylor, unattended by lackadaisical defenders 5 yards from goal, but with time to think, maybe too much time, and place the ball the prolific young striker stooped to nod the ball past France but a gnat's breath too high.

The procrastinating tactics of the visitors, eager to hang on to a much-valued point, almost came back as, even at the death, there was a chance for a winner as with the 90^th minute ticking past, Taylor slipped the ball wide to Plummer hurtling up the left but this time France redeemed himself with a fine block low at his near post.

Perhaps another nail has been drilled in the play-off coffin but with a quartet of six-pointers remaining for the Hamlet, their fate still remains within their own hands. However for the management the hand scratching remains. Once frugal defence now philanthropic to goal-starved adversaries, pusillanimous attack now tigerish. "Faites vos jeux, Mesdames et Messieurs", the roulette wheel is spinning.

Teams:

DHFC: Sheikh Ceesay; Steve May; Ricky Dobson; Benson Paka; Shayne Mangodza (Capt.); Marc Cumberbatch; Sebastian Schoburgh (Osman Sesay 65); Ryan Bernard (Stanley Muguo 65); Meshach Nugent; Charlie Taylor; Billy Chattaway (Darryl Plummer 65)

Subs not used: Henry Darko, Tim Roberts (GK)

LFC: Aaron France; Asher Hudson; Ryan Palmer; Steve McNamara (Adam Bernard 82); Iain Hendry (Captain); Matt Jones (Lynvall Duncan 90+2); Stewart Holmes; Gareth Graham; Carl Gibbs; Billy Marshall; Dave Stevens

Substitutes not used: Glenn Boosey; Charlie Marshall; Dan Dean

Attendance: 289

Officials:

Referee: Mr Daniel Austin (Bognor Regis, West Sussex)

Assistant Referees: Mr Graeme Thornley (Harrow, Middlesex) & Mr Reuben Simon (Hounslow, Middlesex)

Goalscoring:

1-0 DHFC Sebastian Schoburgh 7^th minute

1-1 LFC Billy Marshall 30^th minute

1-2 LFC Carl Gibbs 32^nd minute

2-2 DHFC Charlie Taylor 33^rd minute

2-3 LFC Matt Jones 52^nd minute

3-3 DHFC Meshach Nugent 78^th minute