Crowborough Athletic 0 Dulwich Hamlet 7

Crowborough Athletic 0 Dulwich Hamlet 7
Ryman Isthmian League Division One South
Saturday 15th November 2008

Crow shooting season is officially open, newcomers to the Isthmian League cruelly put to the slaughter by a rampant Dulwich on golden late autumn day in the Weald. Not since Hungerford have the Hamlet’s travelling band been treated to such a massacre,
A golden day for Laurent Hamici, the rosbif with Gallic flair. The silent assassin leading the charge with a sublime hat trick, the goals of the Hamlet leading hitman sweetly complemented by an excellently finished quartet from his colleagues. But for the heroics of the overworked Mark Oldroyd between the sticks for the hosts the scoreline might have flown into double figures, a new mark chalked up in the annals of Hamlet history.
The Crows have had a heady baptism in the Isthmian League, just three victories to their credit in the current campaign though on their last outing they had stunned impecunious Folkestone upon their own turf. That triumph had instilled new hope in Steve Johnson’s men though ill fortune struck when injury robbed them of leading scorers Wayne Clarke and Gavin Gordon, whose shared 23 goals out of 32 had provided a rare chink of light in a mostly barren season.
The Hamlet were without Walid Matata, forced off in victory against Chipstead, Fasineh Koroma coming into an otherwise unchanged starting XI.
Dulwich began with majestic football, intuitive, quick touches on a shaggy pitch, already in its winter coat and dotted with fallen autumnal leaves, tricky perhaps but not for the Hamlet men who darted here and there, rhythmic, a tad faster than their hosts. Hamici knew it was to be his day. His body language cried out confidence. Lithe and fluent, a touch of arrogance, Six minutes passed and out of nowhere, Hamici opened the scoring. There seemed little opportunity, little danger when a slither of passes saw the ball end at the feet of Hamici fully thirty yards from goal. Without a second thought the Dulwich striker, his eyes on the prize, turned and rifled a shot low and hard towards goal. Perhaps surprised Oldroyd reactions were delayed, ball zipping low inside his right hand post as he belated flung himself across goal but in vain.
Hamici’s gluttony for goals has polarised some but his value cannot be weighted in goals alone. Had Oldroyd not battered out the close range effort of Scott Simpson, it might have been scored one made one, as Hamici lashed the ball low across the face of the six yard box to his strike partner. Electric Hamlet were buzzing, the heavy battalion thrown forward for a corner, industrious defending at last clearing the ball after the ball bounced bagatelle-like across the six yard box. With the Lunan Launch much in evidence, the home goal came under aerial bombardment on a regular basis, Oldroyd marking a brave block at the feet of Cedric Ngakam. Soon through the defence would be breached once more. Daryl Plummer found an extra gear to power past Crows’ skipper Justin Harris, the one-time Lewes defender, left in the wake of the flying winger and the gentlest of tugs upon the shoulder of Plummer sent him tumbling to the turf as burst into the box. Harris’ protestations of innocence bore no truck with referee Mr Rendell, and a yellow card was flashed in the face of the Crowborough captain. All the while Hamici had been awaiting his moment, the ball parked on the penalty spot as Oldroyd ruin through the gamut of Grobbelaar-esque distraction techniques, walking to the ball to confront his protagonist before taking his place on the goalline, springing like Zebedee on acid. Unfazed Hamici took a step up to the ball, no more no less, and calmness personified rolled the ball low into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Five minutes before the break a needlessly conceded free kick saw Plummer’s name enter Mr Rendell’s pocket book. A somnambulating defence almost paid double as full back Dave Soutar glided in at the back of the six yard box, his first time strike on target but comfortably gathered low by Jamie Lunan.
On the stroke of half-time Dulwich drove an almost fatal stake into the heart of Crows hopes. The big boys were up for a corner, won by the steadfast refusal of Simpson to surrender a lost cause as he chased an overhit pass to the back line. Ngakam worried the defence with his towering presence to ball eventually dropping to his skipper, Marc Cumberbatch who swung a mighty boot at the ball as it dropped to him, Oldroyd scrabbling fingers getting a touch on the burning ball but only to divert it into the roof of the net.
There was no let up for the Crows after the break but to their credit they were not swayed from the philosophy of football. The teams of Steve Johnson and his partner in crime on the bench, Harry Smith, nine years and counting in the hot seat, have always reflected in belief in the game as she should be played, with style, with elegance, with honesty, a fatal error today perhaps. The Crows may have called upon the services of the Sussex journeymen, men of good heart, but these are not of yeoman stock, calloused palms, iron lungs, who in past lives might have had those same lungs blackened by the smog of the forge as they manned the bellows. Artist not artisans swell the ranks of the Crows but against the Hamlet’s thundering herd, those same artists were made as if to be the naifs of the playground, not the masters of the Uffizi and the Prado. Mesmerised but never seemingly demoralised, brief glimpses of a Crowborough fight back swirled out of the gloom that had enveloped the home faithful. Dulwich goal under early siege but lifted swiftly as the Hamlet broke those shackles, Benson Paka floating in a deep, deep cross to the back of the box where it found the unlikely head of Plummer, a looping header leaving Oldroyd clutching at the ether as it dropped into the net behind him.
‘Ere the hour mark had slipped by, the Crows were in tatters, the RSPCA’s hotline burning red as fewterer Edwards unleashing his pack upon the cowering hosts. Quicksilver in his boots, adrenalin pumping, Hamici tore into the blue flank with the savagery of a deerhound upon a wounded stag. Low and hard he drilled the ball across the face of the penalty area Koroma gleefully pouncing upon the ball to larrup it high into the net past Oldroyd, Aunt Sally in a fairground pitch’n’toss.
Centre-stage once, the spotlight fell upon Hamici as he completed his hat trick 5 minutes later, powering away from the last line of defence before tucking the ball past an exposed Oldroyd.
A brutal challenge left Plummer curled in agony upon the floor, the tackle made more distasteful for the dearth of bad blood in the game. One aging wag in the crowd took umbrage, threatened harm upon the referee’s car, his threat greeted with a grin and the revelation said car belonged to ‘er indoors. However the brutality of the Hamlet offence was more shocking, Gary Noel replaced the injured Plummer and moments later was a deflection away from making it seven. Paka galloped away down the left as Crowborough scanned the touchline for offside flag that never came, his effort beaten out by Oldroyd straight to Noel who swung a leg at the rebound only for a defender’s limb to send the ball curling wide. Still the replacement would not have long to add another notch to Hamlet history. Lunan’s free kick seemed overhit as Crowborough pushed their defence up high but Cumberbatch had slipped under the radar, harrying Oldroyd as he fumbled the bouncing ball. With the custodian struggling to regain his ground, Cumberbatch swivelled and slipped the ball across the goal to where Noel was waiting to spank the ball into the net. The rout was complete but time still remained. The Crows threatened briefly, perhaps dissuading the gentleman upon the dressing room for taking a leap, his depression lifted a little by a sterling display of close range shot stopping from Oldroyd, denying Simpson with an acrobatic low one-handed save, repeating the feat within a minute, the saves sandwiching a Hamici drive that whizzed past the far post. Reward for Oldroyd’s busy day and bulging net was man of the match, testimony to the dominance of the Red Army as belligerent in attack as Moscow’s finest, its play as melodious as its most excellent choirs.

Teams:
CAFC: Mark Oldroyd; Tom Boddy; David Soutar; Justin Harris (Capt.); Andy Ducille; Matt Foreman; Kieran Wilson; Luke Gedling; Luke Fontana; John Sinclair; Brendan Sebulida (Ross Campbell 66)
Substitutes not used: James Pallett, Craig Bishop

DHFC: Jamie Lunan; Peter Martin; Billy Chattaway (Kyle Graham 77); Benson Paka; Cedric Ngakam; Marc Cumberbatch; Daryl Plummer (Gary Noel 65); Stanley Muguo; Laurent Hamici; Fasineh Koroma (Junior Kaffo 82); Scott Simpson
Substitutes not used: Famoud Sonko; Sheikh Ceesay

Goalscoring:
1-0 DHFC Laurent Hamici 6th minute
2-0 DHFC Laurent Hamici 33rd minute (penalty)
3-0 DHFC Marc Cumberbatch 45th minute
4-0 DHFC Daryl Plummer 51st minute
5-0 DHFC Fasineh Koroma 60th minute
6-0 DHFC Laurent Hamici 65th minute
7-0 DHFC Gary Noel 72nd minute

Officials:
Referee: Mr Lloyd Rendell
Assistant Referees: Mr Anthony Rawlings & Mr Michael O’Keefe

Dulwich Hamlet 2 Chipstead 1

Dulwich Hamlet 2 Chipstead 1
Ryman Isthmian League Division One South
Tuesday 11th November 2008

“We ought to give thanks for all fortune: it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country”
Dulwich Hamlet sit proudly in third place in the table after this victory over troubled Chipstead, deserved in execution, fortunate in opportunity for the Chips had none of their own, striking the frame of the goal no fewer than a quartet of times during the course of the contest.
It was a shaky start for the Hamlet against a side whose cup exploits had perhaps o’ershadwed the paucity of their league performances that had seen they slip inexorably into the relegation slots. Not that they had relegation written upon their faces as they sparked into life and posed the greater threat in the opening quarter hour. With greater fortune, they might have built themselves a comfortable cushion of goals before Dulwich had engaged engines. The poor butt of Dame Fortune’s jests was Josh Smith, the nippy young winger left wondered he that detour he had taken through the Battersea Black Cat Sanctuary and Looking Glass Emporium on the way to Champion Hill had been such a good idea.
In 11th minute of the eleventh day of the eleventh month Smith spun inside Billy Chattaway and struck a shot beyond the hand of a diving Jamie Lunan only to see it cannon back off the base of the upright. Dulwich were similarly spared just four minutes later when a shot from lively if luckless Smith took a deflection off a Dulwich defender, arched over a stranded Lunan but rebounded back from the crossbar. As the half roiled on, Dulwich finally decided to take part. A booming long clearance was gathered by Daryl Plummer, the winger scampering clear in the inside-left channel and hitting a fearsome volley on the run, however veteran Chipstead 'keeper James Wastell produced a fine save to batter the ball away well low down to his right. Shortly afterwards, Scott Simpson shot wide from the angle when well placed eight yards out. Three minutes later Plummer was sent away on the left, centring for Walid Matata, free in the middle, to tuck home under Wastell, but much to the display of the wingman, the flag had long been raised against Plummer.
On song this evening Plummer continued to provide the chances. Looking lively on the wing, he found Laurent Hamici with a precise pullback, the striker pulling the trigger on a stinging snap shot but denied by the ever-alert Wastell, though ‘twas a pity there was no one in a Pink and Blue short on hand to profit from the ‘keeper’s parry.
O Fortuna velut Luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis;
O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning;
Fortuna waxed for the Hamlet, waned for the Chips as, on the stroke of half-time, Dulwich profited from her favours Jamie Lunan juggled the ball along the top of his own crossbar as he wrestled with a header from a Chips corner.
Manager Craig Edwards made a change at the break for Matata was struggling once more with his persistent injury. He drew Simpson across from the flank into the vanguard, bringing Nick Ogbanufe on for a delayed debut to fill the vacant wide berth.
Was it the change that lit up the Dulwich offence? Of course and who would argue with Mr Edwards! Eight minutes into the half with a masterpiece of a goal, but like all masterpieces, it is not just the signature of the master that makes the work. This was a fine goal, elegant in composition upon the canvas as first Chattaway, then Benson Paka and finally Plummer built the foundations. A neat flick in from the wing from Plummer as if to hand the brush and palette to Hamici, the final brushstroke, the final flourish belonging to the hitman as he shifted the ball to his right foot and from just inside the area drilled a shot with little backlift but almost infinite power beyond the defenceless Wastell.
The lead was short lived however when Simpson gave away a sloppy free kick five minutes later. From the free kick Laurence Buchmann swung in a pinpoint delivery, aided and abetted by a Dulwich defence that went AWOL as the unguarded Fred Fleming rose to head in past Jamie Lunan and off the underside of the crossbar.
Stung into action, Dulwich almost regained the advantage straight from the kickoff as the ball was played out into the left pocket, a chipped cross shot rising just over the bar. Dulwich continued push forwards looking for the winner and a goal-bound header from Marc Cumberbatch, getting on the end of Paka’s delivery, was deflected behind. The best move of the match secured victory for Dulwich when a fine pirouette on the halfway line by Paka enabled him to play a pinpoint pass into Hamici's path, the leaden footed Chips defence vainly pleading for offside. Bearing down on goal the striker had selflessness to turn the ball inside to Simpson in space, who shrugged off the challenge of Fleming to slam the ball home from close range.
Two minutes later, Chipstead were once again left cursing their misfortune when the ill-fated Smith beat the advancing Lunan only to see his shot strike the underside of the bar and ricochet back into play.
Deflated Chips threatened little after that. Dulwich could, nay should, have extended that lead, made it comfortable. A Lunan launch was nodded on by Cumberbatch, Cedric Ngakam swinging a leg at the loose ball, Wastell bravely blocking amidst the flying boots. The corner found the head of Ced but this time he was wide of the far stick. So well were Hamici and Simpson working as a double act, the BBC will soon be commissioning their Christmas special. The pair exchanged dinky passes on the edge of the area to create the opening, shame though that the shot was snatched at and always rising over the bar.

Teams:
DHFC: Jamie Lunan; Peter Martin; Billy Chattaway; Benson Paka; Cedric Ngakam; Marc Cumberbatch; Daryl Plummer; Stanley Muguo; Laurent Hamici; Walid Matata (Nick Ogbanufe HT); Scott Simpson
Substitutes not used: Junior Kaffo; Gary Noel; Kyle Graham; Sheikh Ceesay

CFC: James Wastell; Jamie Findlay; Laurence Buchmann (Shane Graham 82); Andrew Wareing; Fred Fleming (Capt.); Daryl Coleman; Nathan Campbell; Alec Brown (Aaron Cole-Bolt 74); Liam Oxley; Jamal York; Josh Smith
Substitutes not used: Chris Head; Gavin Quintyne; Barry Coleman

Goalscoring:
1-0 DHFC Laurent Hamici 53rd minutes
1-1 CFC: Fred Fleming 58th minute
2-1 DHFC Scott Simpson 65th minute

Officials:
Referee: Mr Matt Foley
Assistant Referees: Mr Dele Sotimirin and Mr Roger Wells

Attendance: 224

Dulwich Hamlet 3 Croydon Athletic 2

Dulwich Hamlet 3 Croydon Athletic 2
Ryman Isthmian League Division One South
Saturday 8th November 2008

Having conceded a brace of goals within the opening ten minutes for the second time in less than a week, Dulwich pulled themselves up by the bootstraps to record a third league victory in succession and move to the brink of the play-off positions. Victory looked a distant dream after a nightmarish start when Shabazz Baidoo cut in from the left wing, toying with Ryan Bernard before curling a crisp shot into the far corner of the net. Things got even worse four minutes later when Baidoo's deep cross in from the flanks was neatly nodded down by Danny Waldren giving Sean Rivers the simplest of tap-ins albeit from a suspiciously offside looking position. Premature chants of "Easy, easy" echoed from beneath the far terrace where the Croydon faithful had thronged.
Come the 12th minute and Dulwich began the uphill task of reducing the arrears with a goal from a textbook corner. Scott Simpson provided the delivery. Marc Cumberbatch battled to the near post to flick the ball across the face of a statuesque Nick Gindre and there at the back stick, sneaking in behind a dilettante Rivers, was Bernard guiding his header into the net.
In treacherous conditions, the pitch only passing muster after sterling work from volunteers, some surprisingly slick football was on show from both sides, the struggling Rams belying their lowly league status. Indeed with more accurate finishing Sam Clayton might have restored his side's two goal advantage but having broken through the last line of defence his finishing was wayward, the shot skidding wide of the far stick.
On the stroke of half-time came an equaliser courtesy of the Dulwich not-so-secret weapon, the Lunan Launch. Dulwich were awarded a free kick inside the Croydon half, the visitors curmudgeonly attempts to delay the kick in vain. A booming delivery into the heart of the penalty area, Gindre vainly attempting to punch through a thicket of own defenders, failing in his attempt and leaving Cedric Ngakam to loop a header over the 'keeper's air punch and into the unguarded net.
Dulwich brought on Peter Martin for Bernard at the break, the punchy young right back eager to reclaim that troublesome berth. His impetus and enthusiasm was reflected in a Hamlet onslaught. Simpson had the chance to give the Hamlet the advantage but he dragged a left strike against the falling body of Gindre.
It seemed as if time might prove the ultimate enemy as dusk settled upon Champion Hill but eight minutes from time cam a blockbuster gaol from the boot of Benson Paka to snatch victory from the early jaws of defeat. Martin and Laurent Hamici linked up well in the right corner, the ball flicked across to Paka lurking on the brink of the box. A quick juggle on to a deadly right foot, Paka packing a punch with a sizzling drive into the far corner, Gindre helpless as he flung himself across but all for naught.
Not content to sit upon their hard-won lead, Dulwich had the scent of goals strong in their nostrils. Moments later the rampant martin had a corker of drive battered away by a fast reacting Gindre. Paka zipped a low drive wide of the upright as the efforts rained in. but further goals were absent.
Sweet victory indeed but marred at the last by the controversial dismissal of Billy Chattaway for a second caution. First yellow had been rash, the young left back reacting in haste to a heavy challenge by erstwhile team-mate Tom Bolarinwa. However a pedantic official had him inconsolable, shocked as, having placed a free kick for Lunan, on his way from goal to take it, Chattaway booked for time wasting as walked away.

Teams:
DHFC: Jamie Lunan; Ryan Bernard (Peter Martin HT); Billy Chattaway; Benson Paka; Cedric Ngakam; Marc Cumberbatch (Capt.); Daryl Plummer; Stanley Muguo; Laurent Hamici; Walid Matata (Gary Noel 69); Scott Simpson
Substitutes not used: Junior Kaffo; Kevin Lott; Sheikh Ceesay

CAFC: Nick Gindre; Danny Boxall; Luke Adams (Nathan Green 89); Simon Osborn; Richard Blackwell; Bradley Duke; Tom Bolarinwa (Lamin Ojo 70); Danny Waldren; Sean Rivers (Adam Greenway 81); Shabazz Baidoo; Sam Clayton
Substitutes not used: Ryan Myers; Jeremiah Olusanya

Goalscoring:
1-0 CAFC Shabazz Baidoo 4th minute
2-0 CAFC Sean Rivers 8th minute
2-1 DHFC Ryan Bernard 12th minute
2-2 DHFC Cedric Ngakam 45th minute (+2)
3-2 DHFC Benson Paka 82nd minute

Officials:
Referee: Mr Constantine Hatzidakis
Assistant Referees: Mr Gareth Mays & Mr Stefan Malczewski

Attendance: 194