Fleet Town 4 Dulwich Hamlet 1

Ryman Isthmian League Division One South

Saturday 30th September 2006

A resilient animal the Hamlet fan, a life of highs and lows, a roller coaster that rises high, like the 8-1 demolition of rock bottom Godalming in midweek, only to plummet to earth in a 4-1 defeat at Calthorpe Park as high flying Fleet o’er leapt title favourites Dover into top spot. One week high art, the next low farce. Today fast paced frolic and farce punctuated by the ignominy of skipper Gavin Dayes’ first half moment of madness that saw him rightly dismissed and tore a gaping hole in the Dulwich rearguard, generously exploited by the home forwards, Fleet of name and fleet of foot.

Rearranged at short notice due to original opponents Leatherhead’s continued involvement in the FA Cup, the contest pitched second against third, the division’s two form sides in opposition. Curious that Dulwich should chose such lofty opponents as stand-ins for the clash of the Cup meant they were without regular keeper James Pullen, recalled to Champion Hill to warm the bench as Fisher Athletic struggled to a 7-1 victory over Sittingbourne. In his stead tyro custodian Chris Lewington donned the gloves but though he made some quality saves to keep the score line semi respectable, it was clear the youngster still has some way to go in his goalkeeping education. Hamlet’s only other change from the midweek massacre was the return of Jason Turley at left back, replacing Nicolas Plumain.

As the rain swept across bucolic Calthorpe Park, battle was joined, first shout to the Hamlet as Chris Dickson slipped the bonds of the offside trap but lashed at the chance, his effort rattling overhanging branches but not the net. On eight minutes Dulwich’s defence was similarly breached but unfortunately the result was not the same. Phil John provided the pass that sliced through the Hamlet rearguard to find Michael Douglas running on to the ball and from close range the basic instinct of the goalscorer took above as he hammered the ball past the exposed Lewington.

Down the slippery slope came the Fleet once more as they tried to build on their advantage. Dulwich conceded a corner, up went James Mann, rising highest and powering a header towards goal only to be denied as his attempt crashed back off the crossbar. Soon after Dulwich mounted an attack of their own as Phil Williams wove his way to the brink of the box, bursting past Steve Hemmings only to be surreptitiously tugged back, a sly offence that went unnoticed by both referee and assistant. Having escaped the attention of the officials, skipper Hemmings then escaped the attention of his markers as he met a corner with a firm header but wide of the mark.

Though Fleet had imposed themselves upon the game, they could find few chinks in the Hamlet armour and failure to add to their lead was to prove costly as Dulwich hit back to equalise before the half-hour. Deaf to the plaintive cries for offside ringing in his ears, Chris Dickson galloped on to a threaded pass from Kenny Beaney in the centre of the park, taking the ball to the line before dragging the ball back beyond keeper Justin Gray and finding an inrushing Williams who forced the ball over the goalline from close range. For Hemmings, the assistant referee’s refusal to recognise his claim for offside would earn him a caution.

All that hard work would be undone with ten minutes to go to the break as Dayes and substitute striker Eddie Smith clashed as Dulwich’s defence readied itself for the arrival of a free kick. As Smith slumped to the turf holding his face, players clashed with Turley and Douglas spoken to by the man in black. For a moment it seemed as if the moment had passed but the eagle eyes of the assistant referee had caught the clash in its inglorious intensity. Dayes was summoned by Mr Berry, no need for words, a red card brandished, Dayes' afternoon ended and Dulwich rocky road to defeat commenced. Lewington’s smart save at the foot of his post from James Field, as the midfielder drove in a low free kick, merely delayed an inevitable second goal as Mann arched to nod the ball back across the box to where Smith was waiting to roll the ball home at the back stick.

The assistant marshalling Dulwich’s attack been as eagle eyed as his colleague the Hamlet might have been thrown a lifeline as the sands of the half ran out, Dickson clearly tugged back by the already cautioned Hemmings but once again the defender’s luck was in as penalty claims were waved away. The lead might well have been extended to add to the frustration but Lewington’s agility denied Field as his rising drive was battered away.

With the notorious Calthorpe slope, once the centrepiece of a failed bid to bring the Winter Olympics to deepest Hampshire, in their favour, Dulwich might have hoped to negate their numeric disadvantage but two goals within the space of two minutes would make their onerous task nigh insurmountable. Luke Cornwall had penetrated the home defence almost from the kick-off only the roll the ball across the muddy goalmouth, but Wayne’s World imploded as first Darren Campbell latched on to a pass in from the right by Smith to turn sharply under pressure and tuck the ball under a diving Lewington. Almost straight from the kick-off Dulwich were caught short at the back, vainly looking for a flag as John dashed to meet a pass. Lewington rushed from his line but came off second best as he and John tussled for the ball and he struggled to regain his ground was beaten as the Fleet midfielder tucked the ball home from a tight angle.

The Dulwich management’s response was inject guile and steel as Daniel Jones replaced Cornwall whilst Eniola Oluwa came on in place of the underperforming David Moore, taking on the midfield enforcer role of Daniel Nwanze who had dropped to centre-half after Dayes’ disgrace. To Hamlet’s credit they did not lay down and die, silky skills in difficult conditions from Williams set up the indefatigable Dickson but his effort sailed over. Gray stood up well to claw away Williams’ attempted chip whilst at the other end Lewington was at full stretch to batter away a fearsome long range drive from Campbell. Indeed both keepers were kept busy as the game swung from end to end. Lewis Tozer should have done better as he rose at the back of the six yard box to meet a free kick, only to weakly nod the ball back to Gray. Gray was more tested when Dickson, almost running on empty, beat the last line of defence but a bullet of shot was pawed away by the diving Gray. Aping his namesake, the pacy Campbell went close with a thunderous shot after cutting in from the left. A rip-roaring game, but Hamlet were left to rue the madness of Dayes and wisdom of taking on the Fleet sans first choice keeper.

Teams:

FTFC: Justin Gray; Ian Griffin; Shaun Hale; Phillip John; James Mann; Steve Hemmings (Capt); James Field (Elliott Capel 88); Michael Douglas (Tony Millerick 80); Will Salmon; Jermaine Hamilton; (Eddie Smith 21); Darren Campbell

Subs not used: Nathan Smart, Paul Smith

DHFC:

James Pullen; Jason Turley (Cedric Meeko 69); Danny Moore; Daniel Nwanze; Gavin Dayes; Lewis Tozer; David Moore (Eniola Oluwa 54); Kenny Beaney; Chris Dickson; Luke Cornwall (Daniel Jones 54); Phil Williams

Subs not used: Sol Pinnock; Jean-Serge Musungu

Attendance: 146

Officials:

Referee: Mr Carl Berry (Tadworth)

Assistant Referees: Mr Oliver Smith (Eastleigh) & Mr Peter Buckeridge (Southampton)

Goal Scoring:

1-0 FTFC Michael Douglas 8th minute

1-1 DHFC Phil Williams 27th minute

2-1 FTFC Eddie Smith 39th minute

3-1 FTFC Darren Campbell 51st minute

4-1 Phillip John 52nd minute