DULWICH FAIL TO CATCH FIRE AT WINDSOR

Windsor and Eton 3 Dulwich Hamlet 0
Saturday 16th March 2002
Ryman League – Division One

With the vociferous boos of the bedraggled knot of Dulwich fans sheltering from the elements beneath Windsor’s blasted oak, Dulwich’s trudged despondently from the Stag Meadow pitch as their ecstatic hosts celebrated a rare victory that lifted them from the foot of the table. Lacking the threat of relegation, Hamlet’s performance was but a mere shadow of that dogged performance in midweek that had earned them a place in the London Senior Cup semi-final at the expense of Fisher but even that could not be used as an excuse for this abject display. Injuries too could be cited in the case for the defence, Dave Richards, Lee Akers shorn from the rearguard with new signing Michael Beaton from Maidenhead making his debut in the troublesome left-back role. Lee Endersby and Charley Side were not starting either although at least Side made the bench. To counter this the Royalists too had their treatment cases. Goalkeeper Trevor Bunting was out to be replaced at short notice by Peter Griffin, most of whose action has been seen in the local Sunday leagues. Two other influential players missing in the shape of Steve Gale and Kieran Adams and surely there was no hope of the division’s whipping boys upsetting the form book and putting an end to the Hamlet’s long unbeaten run. However Windsor is a strange concoction of youth and experience mixed together by player-manager Dennis Greene, who proved himself an alchemist supreme as he turned bas metal into gold.
It took a mere four minutes for the home side to grab the lead. A goalkick from Griffin caught on the wind finding Dean Wordsworth in the clear beyond a static defence. Ever the gentleman, Wordsworth cut in and laid the ball on a plate for joint leading scorer Matt Brady to slot the ball past an exposed James Mercer.
In a turgid first half, Dulwich did little to redeem themselves with chances few and far between. Danny Husbands, constantly cajoling his compadrés, came close with a long-range curler on 13 minutes that flew just over. Shortly after Declan Perkins met a freekick with a fierce shot but it was well wide of the mark. He nearly atoned for that miss on 22 when a sweetly struck freekick curled round the wall but went a fraction the wrong side of the upright. Four minutes later and the understudy custodian had his moment in the spotlight as Rob French met Perkins corner with a steaming header only for Griffin to leap high to his left to tip the goalbound attempt over the crossbar.
Windsor meanwhile stuck to the guns and with Wordsworth at the heart of so many of their moves had opportunities to increase their lead. Nine minutes from the break and Brady took advantage of the wind at his back to try to spectacular long range effort that swirled and dipped on its way to goal, but found an equal in the shape of Mercer who turned the attempt behind.
Strong words from the management at half time brought no change and even with the wind behind them in the second half, Dulwich actually contrived to look worse than in the first half. Windsor buoyed by the shock of leading were in no mood to let the Hamlet off the hook and were determined to make someone pay for their wretched season. It took 12 minutes for them to double their advantage as the Dulwich defence again went absent without leave. A long ball over the top caught out Danny Twin allowing the appreciative Brady a clear run on goal which he finished with a wormburner drilled into the bottom left corner of Mercer’s goal.
Embarrassment on the terraces turned to anger as the Royalists totally dominated. Any exiled Windsor fan wandering in late might have bemoaned the change in his heroes kit until being informed that it was the visitors sporting the imitation workmen’s jackets. That Windsor did not take advantage of their opening to extent their lead almost told against them 15 minutes from the end but once again Griffin was their saviour. Eben Allen’s shot across goal was tipped into the path of Francis Quarm by the stand-in keeper, but to the teenager’s disbelief as he attempted to tuck in the rebound, there was Griffin who’d managed to regain his feet, recover his ground and block the shot in the nick of time.
At times Wordsworth was poetry in motion, displayed a modicum of that talent that ought to have been displayed on a high stage. In the thick of the action his labours deserved greater reward but fate conspired against him, his best chance coming near the end when having been played in by Michael Murphy his sweetly struck shot came back off the post. However in stoppage time he was already to seal his performance by returning the favour to Murphy holding off Twin in the box before laying the ball up for Murphy to smash into the back of the net.

Team:
1. James Mercer
2. Danny Twin
3. Michael Beaton (12: Ryan Pacey 85)
4. Nick Leach
5. Oliver Hunt
6. Rob French
7. Danny Husbands
8. Danny Ward (15: Danny Moore 46)
9. Declan Perkins (14: Charley Side 85)
10. Francis Quarm
11. Eben Allen

Man of the match: Would have been the tea lady but they’d run out of hot food ten minutes into the second half so I’ll pass on this if you don’t mind.