Dulwich Hamlet 1 Metropolitan Police 1

Dulwich Hamlet 1 Metropolitan Police 1
Ryman Isthmian league Division One South
Tuesday 26th August 2008

Some may decry the Met Police as Mock Coppers (Moppers?), mercenaries will little connection to Sir Robert Peel Boobies or the Bow Street Runners other than the odd run in with a speed camera or a D&D in Kingston Town Centre on a Saturday night but the XI who wore the shirt of the constabulary had certainly been trained in all the finest forms of riot control as Dulwich, rampant at the weekend, were stymied at every turn. Although Hamlet took the lead late in the first half, it went against the grain for the Police had held the whip hand for the bulk of the contest prior to then. An early equaliser broke Hamlet hearts, a lapse of concentration, though a goal not undeserved for all the Met’s belligerence in attack and even when reduced to ten men, though injury rather than dismissal, the Coppers still had the energy, the aggression and the sheer bloody-mindedness to thwart the Hamlet’s ambitions of taking a third win from four. Still against a side bristling with Isthmian League experience a Hamlet side slashed through the middle by injury and the duplicity of rival managers could hold its head up high for surely either side should amongst the title chasers come the dénouement of the campaign.
The fates had once more conspired against Craig Edwards as he prepared his starting line, the poor unfortunate must have crashed his car into a lorry load of black cats on the way to the ground before dumping seven millennia worth of mirrors upon the stricken felines. Star of the Merstham demolition, JP Collier was limping about on crutches, victim of a cruciate ligament injury whilst midfielder Stanley Muguo had been disquietened by a tapping up from a rival manager, alerted by Dulwich’s straightened circumstances in the current climate. Also out was Daryl Plummer still suffering the side-effects of his gallant goal at Merstham that saw him concussed and suffering kidney damage. It meant of the four musketeers who had lined up across the middle for Dulwich at the Moatside only Alex Fiddes survived to be joined by Dan Nwanze, Tyran James and Fas Koroma.
Excused league duty for the Bank Holiday, Notting Hill and all that old bean, and glowing fluorescent yellow the Met Police arrived at Champion Hill all sirens blaring and ready for action decked out in their hi-viz jackets as if newly arrived from that Edwards’ traffic accident, then began the game as if hell-bent on causing one. Numbers all a jumble, number 11 at right back, the stocky yet strutting Rob George, bedecked in the number three shirt but orchestrating his team’s finest moves from a roving role behind a twin pronged attack. In flurry of early chances, George would come closest as he pirouetted in the box, a low drive beating Jamie Lunan only to smack back off the base of the far upright. On hand was Steve May to larrup the ball to safety as Scott Forrester hovered. Dulwich had a strong shout for a penalty as a Scott Simpson was felled on the very brink of the box but referee Mr Wilde was having none of it. The tenacious George again found the target with a strike from distance but this time found Lunan waiting for the ball.
For every roe there is a thorn and the Police plans were disrupted when midfielder James Greenaway had to be pulled off after just twelve minutes, though in his stead came Michael Cobden, a fiery young left-back, a point he would prove when he scythed through James to earn the evening’s first booking seven minutes after his arrival. Prior to that Dulwich had threatened when Marc Cumberbatch met a corner with a header of fearful force that flew a fraction too high.
A Dulwich free kick had Met Police defenders working overtime as Steve Sutherland hacked away the deflected drive, only for Dulwich to pile the pressure on with a series of stabs at goal only for the thin yellow line to hold firm. Best was yet to come and on 27 minutes Billy Chattaway launched a deep, deep cross from the left wing to the back of the six yard box where Laurent Hamici was lurking. The striker waited, waited for the ball to drop. “Let it have it” as Hamici cracked a full-blooded drive towards the bottom corner of the net only for the first reacting Mo Maan to scramble down to block at his post.
The Met’s rejoinder was rapid with Forrester dragging a shot across the face of goal, then the same player guilty of a wasteful finish as he drove straight at Lunan after Craig Carley’s sideline salsa had set up the chance. The luckless Forrester would be denied once more as his header was spectacularly clawed away by Lunan but Dulwich momentum was building. James found Maan in the way of his strike but as 45 minutes ticked past, Hamici found a chink in the Met’s armour, turning on a sixpence to drill a searing shot low inside the near post with Maan undone.
A riveting second half was given its overture by a rousing start from the Rozzers, though Hamlet’s defence must have been wondering how they could have lost their quarry given the luminous attire of the marked men s Hamlet were caught napping three minutes after the restart. Gary Drewett, latterly recruited to the cause of the Boys in Blue, marauding down the right wing to dump a deep cross on the far side of the area. Skipper Sutherland stretched out a limb to drag the ball back across the face of goal and in the ensuring scramble it was the itinerant George ion the right place to prod the ball in the back of the net.
In the trenches battle was joined, if blood serves but one purpose it is to be spilt in battle and battle this was for neither side would cede early season honours to the other. The Police can’t stand losing, they can’t stand losing, habitual play-off failures rankle at Imber Court and were Jim Cooper’s employers of a commercial bent, his success-free spending might have been curtailed by now. By contrast Craig Edwards is Baron Hardup, his cupboard bare but his soldiers hungry for victory. The Police felt that hunger, Tommy Moorhouse was the first to drop, a crunching collision with Simpson his undoing. Forrester followed replaced by Saheed Sankoh, gun for hire and for a moment the Police woke up. But the injury jinx stuck once more as Sutherland clattered into the far upright in a failed attempt to brush home Sankoh’s drive across the face of goal. Shorn of a man, the Police’s attacking ambitious were stemmed but determined not to surrender a hard-fought point already in their grasp they pressed hard on the Hamlet who looked to exploit the advantage but to no avail. Even the addition of an extra wide player could not provide the impetus to wheedle through the solid wall of yellow that sprung up whenever Hamlet dared to attack, leaving manager Craig Edwards frustrated but not unhappy.

Teams:
DHFC: Jamie Lunan; Steve May; Billy Chattaway; Alex Fiddes; Ryan Bernard (Capt.); Marc Cumberbatch; Tyran James (Junior Kaffo 86); Dan Nwanze; Laurent Hamici; Scott Simpson (Gary Noel 88); Fas Koroma (Erron Dussard 79)
Substitutes not used: Peter Martin, Gary Baldwinson (GK)

MPFC: Mo Maan; Steve Sutherland (Capt.); Rob George; Stuart Harte; Tommy Moorhouse (PC Robinson 65); James Greenaway (Michael Cobden 12); Gary Drewett; Craig Carley; Scott Forrester (Saheed Sankoh 70); Steve Sargent; Ron Edwards
Substitutes not used: Danny Platel; Will Packham (GK)

Goalscoring:
DHFC: 1-1 Laurent Hamici 45th minute
MPFC: 1-1 Rob George 48th minute

Officials:
Referee: Mr Nolan Wilde (Maidstone, Kent)
Assistants: Mr Mark Ford (Cheam, Surrey) & Mr Dave Sheldrake (West Molesey, Surrey)

Attendance: 251

Merstham 1 Dulwich Hamlet 4

Merstham 1 Dulwich Hamlet 4
Saturday 23rd August 2008
Ryman Isthmian League Division One South

Perched atop the rolling North Downs Merstham’s Moatside Ground is a oasis of green a bottle’s throw from the dreary dream of the post-war planners whose architectural reveries to restore bomb-blitzed Britain have long dissolved into concrete grey and indifferent inhabitants. No wonder the recent rise of the Moatsiders has brought such joy to the townsfolk and two games into their debut season in the Isthmian League the newcomers had acquired themselves well, winning at squeak down in the Valley at Whyteleafe, before inviting Sittingbourne into their home in midweek only to see the men from Kent run away with the best silver courtesy of a late Richard Brady goal. That match was first defeat in more than 40 games, an eye-opener for Merstham but worse was to follow as Dulwich Hamlet rode into town to inflict upon their gracious hosts their heaviest competitive defeat since late August 2006 when Wembley slammed four unanswered goals past a porous defence. No such porosity for nearly two years though the home defence might hold its head high for quality was etched in Dulwich goals from the moment Jon Paul Collier’s screamer opened the scoring to ripping volley from Scott Simpson that cemented emphatic victory.
The Walton wobbles still clear in the mind, Craig Edwards was relived top welcome back Steve May at his customary right back role whilst Laurent Hamici had recovered from opening day injury to reclaim his place in the vanguard. However it was a new face that would have the greatest impact, tricky midfielder Collier, captured in midweek would make a telling impression but more of that later.
Despite the promise the warning lights were on early to alert the Dulwich defence as bullish Merstham set out their stall in the Hamlet half, forcing a succession of early corners and setting Hamlet hearts a-fluttering as the twin destroyers of the Merstham attack, Kevin Lock and Kwabena Agyei, laid into the Hamlet rearguard with merciless intent of a Russian heavyweight. A jab here, a haymaker there but the scoring punches were missing, the experienced Lock particularly wasteful as his header from a Michael Morgan cross failed to hit the target, then a shot on the run sending restful pigeons from their roosts in the poplars behind the goal. Agyei should have profited when presented with the ball by dithering defenders, a charge on goal halted by a timely tackle from Marc Cumberbatch.
Hamlet’s threats had barely registered on the scale when out of the blue Dulwich claimed a 17th minute lead with a bazooka of a drive from debutant Collier ripped low past the diving Ian Chatfield, a bullet of a strike that sent the strong travelling support into early raptures.
The pendulum had truly swung into the favour of the Hamlet. A storming run from Hamici laid the foundations for Collier to chance his arm for a second barely three minutes later, his curling effort swinging just over the crossbar. Another stunning strike left the hoardings quivering as it singed the outside of the woodwork. Not to left out Simpson outjumped defenders to attack a freekick, awarded after Billy Chattaway’s run had been terminated on the fringes of the area, the striker’s header flying over the crossbar.
It should have been two in 37th minute when Laurent Hamici's determined charge upfield set up Daryl Plummer whose precise drive beat Chatfield, only to cannon back off the bar. Worse was to follow as Dulwich were caught cold on the rebound and when David Smith whipped over a superb cross from the right wing, the experienced Kevin Lock was lurking at the back stick to bring the ball under control and lam it under the body of Jamie Lunan.
The spark was lit in Merstham once more and but for Lunan’s swift charge from his line, Agyei might well have snatched up a ball in behind defence, the burly striker faltering the Hamlet custodian as he cleared and earning a caution for his persistence.
Dulwich picked themselves up from the disappointment of the goal and not long before the break came within a whisker of restoring their advantage as Simpson sent in a sweet curling strike that had Chatfield clambering across his goal to claw the ball away at the angle of post and bar.
Seven minutes after the restart Dulwich had a lead they would not relinquish again. Stick-thin he may be but bravery was etched on his soul as Daryl Plummer threw himself at the ball after his skipper Ryan Bernard had nodded a free kick back across the face of the six yard box. Plummer's bullish marker had no answer as a header from the Hamlet winger looped over a stranded Chatfield and into the net. Plummer’s bravery meant a lengthy session with the Dulwich physio and a dearth of sympathy from his colleagues, one of whom remarked “first time he scores and he gets injured”! But the ringing applause of the travelling hoard must get aided the recovery process.
Merstham might have drawn level once more but Billy Chattaway was on hand to kick a Chris Boulter header off the line as the Merstham man rose highest at a corner. Agyei too wasted a great chance, leaping tall at the back of the back only to flick his header away from the mark. Chances aside Dulwich continued to torment their hosts and some meaty challenges underlined how home defence failed to control Hamlet attack, Boulter and Hassan Nyang both tasting the referee’s ire and cautioning them for reckless tackles that could have seen dismissals from less indulgent officials. The latter gave Collier another opening, his freekick penetrating the wall and bouncing off the body of Chatfield; unfortunately no one was on hand to pounce. Agyei was once more denied by Cumberbatch’s saving tackle, the big man missed a clear header after a deep left wing cross, Lock’s experience deserted him as substitute Greenhouse flicked on the ball into his path, a wise mind succumbing to young hotheadedness as power was scarified for pretty, a delicate chip floating harmlessly over Lunan’s bar.
Having beaten away these Merstham chances, at last Dulwich bolstered their advantage as they broke out of defence, Simpson's industry paving the way for Hamici to drive a scuffed shot low in the far corner of a late-reacting Chatfield's net. In the fourth minute of stoppage the tireless Simpson gained his reward too as a hoofed ball forwards was headed skywards by a defender, the patient Simpson waiting for the ball to drop before larruping it on the volley in the now-rippling net.

Teams:
MFC: Ian Chatfield; Kristian Hale; Matt Francis; Chris Boulter; Craig Vernon (c); Chris Read; Michael Morgan (Hinga Amara 81); Hassan Nyang (Glen Garman 89); Kwabena Agyei; Kevin Lock; David Smith (Nick Greenhouse 69)
Substitutes not used: Dean Gunner, Chris Kennedy
Cautions: Kwabena Agyei, Kristian Hale; Chris Boulter; Hassan Nyang

DHFC: Jamie Lunan; Steve May; Billy Chattaway; Alex Fiddes; Ryan Bernard; Marc Cumberbatch; Jon Paul Collier; Stanley Muguo; Laurent Hamici (Junior Kaffo 86); Scott Simpson; Daryl Plummer (Liam Wright 74)
Substitutes not used: Gary Noel; Dan Nwanze; Danny Baldwinson
Cautions: Billy Chattaway; Stanley Muguo

Goalscoring:
DHFC: 1-0 Jon Paul Collier 17th minute
MFC: 1-1 Kevin Lock 38th minute
DHFC: 2-1 Daryl Plummer 52nd minute
DHFC: 3-1 Laurent Hamici 80th minute
DHFC: 4-1 Scott Simpson 94th minute

Officials:
Referee: Mr Charles Breakspear (Walton-on-Thames, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Adam Bakalarz (Bromley, Kent) & Mr Jeff Lengthorn (New Eltham, Kent)

Attendance: 190