Sittingbourne 0 Dulwich Hamlet 0

Ryman Isthmian League Division One

Tuesday 12^th December 2006

Mine eyes have seen the unthinkable or rather they have not. A game sans goals in the Wayne Burnett era? (Shome mishtake shurely, Ed) © Private Eye. Blame the elements, a chill blustery wind laced with spots of icy rain swirled around humble Bourne Park, crouched beneath the towering edifice of Central Park, a paean to past glories and former follies. Blame the pitch, still sodden from the weekend's storms, pregnant with the precipitation that had lashed this far outpost of the man in black, Mr Ian Fissenden of Gravesend, whose eagle-eyes went on the blink went Chris Dickson was cruelly chopped down in the penalty area shortly before the break, the crack of boot on shinpad rattling around the arena then almost drowned by the respective gasps of relief and disbelief from friend and foe on the terraces.

Unchanged from weekend victory over the Met Police mercenaries, Dulwich faced opponents with similar ambitions of promotion as themselves. Injuries deprived the Bourne of keeper Steve Williams, 17 year old Josh Willis proving an able deputy though not tested to the degree his teenage counterpart wearing the Hamlet gloves, Chris Lewington, was. Missing too was centre-forward Mark Lovell whose 9 goals had proved instrumental in the Kent side's challenge.

A flurry of early exchanges disguised the stalemate ahead. The two sides swapped chances in the opening minute then a 15 yard drive from Lee Hockey brought the best out of Lewington as he stretched to push a fierce shot over the crossbar. Eight minutes and an excellent chance went begging as Mitchell Sherwood was left to his own devices on the right wing, a low drive flashing across the face of goal, the far away and too fast for leading scorer Andy Doerr to apply a killer touch.

A powerful charge from Shawn Beveney set up David Moore but a shot from distance failed to trouble the neophyte Willis. Sittingbourne hit straight back but Doerr would have been disappointed with his finishing lashing the ball high and wide after Lee Browning had found himself in space in front of the box. Dickson too saw a great chance go begging after he had latched on to Jake Daniel's dinked pass into the penalty but with only the keeper to beat the Hamlet's crack marksman stabbed hi shot wide of the far post. Worse was to follow as Moore horribly miskicked with the goal at his mercy, sending the travelling faithful scattering as his wild drive threatened a terrace massacre. A late offside flag halted Dickson in his tracks moments later but officialdom would frustrate the Hamlet hitman even more on 24 minutes as he penetrated the left corner of the penalty area, to be scythed down by Toby Ashmore. More to the astonishment of Dickson, referee Mr Fissenden had it in his mind that the Hamlet man had dived though no punishment was forthcoming. Ashmore suffered Dickson's frustration as he was clattered into by the striker moments later and this time the card did come out.

Jon Neal got the best of an erratic bounce to get in behind Justyn Richards but a stabbed effort enabled Hamlet to clear their lines. Soon after Browning saw the goal open up before him but stumbled in the boggy ground at the vital moment allowing Lewington to spread himself and gather. Not long before the interval Daniel made a present of the ball to Sherwood, the winger advancing down the right before winging a ball into the area to the waiting Neal but Lewington would prove his nemesis blocking a strong close range strike.

With conditions deteriorating in the second half, it was not surprising that some of the cutting edge evaporated from the game though Sittingbourne should have gained an advantage early on as Lewington denied both Hockey and Kieran Marsh in the first couple of minutes. A laser fine pass whipped across the face of goal by Dickson from the right had no one in position to apply the final brushstroke. For the Brickies diminutive substitute Ricky Spiller, proving width on the right, delivering a telling cross headed out to the toes of Marsh only for the skipper to pick power over precision and hammer the ball well a foot too high.

15 minutes from time Willis's poor clearance almost cost his side a goal as Beveney fed Moore on the edge of the area who in turn delivered the ball into the path of Kenny Beaney only for the midfielder to hook the ball behind under pressure.

Late on the blustery wind blowing at their backs almost became a twelfth man for the Hamlet. A corner punched out to Beaney curling back on the breeze only for keeper Josh Willis to tip over. Beaney's next effort from the corner flag again swinging in to be punched away by Willis through a crowd of players but back to Beaney but this time the inswinger flew to high.

Rather than settle for a shared point Dulwich threw on Sol Pinnock and Billy Warner for the final ten minutes in place of Beveney and Moore but the tactic proved in vain as the game ended in scoreless stalemate. Difficult conditions, dogged opposition but the management was still displeased, two points dropped the verdict.

Teams:

SFC: Josh Willis; Toby Ashmore; Joe Dowley; Paul Ainsworth; Steve Searle; Kieran Marsh (Capt); Lee Browning; Lee Hockey; Jon Neal (Ricky Spiller 53); Andy Doerr; Mitchell Sherwood

Substitutes not used: Clint Gooding; Matt Nicholl; Tristan Knowles; James Campbell

DHFC: Chris Lewington; Lewis Tozer; Gavin Dayes; Justyn Roberts (Nicolas Plumain 77); Jamie Coyle (Capt); Jake Daniel; David Moore (Billy Warner 84); Kenny Beaney; Shawn Beveney (Sol Pinnock 84); Chris Dickson; Phil Williams

Substitutes not used: Cedric Meeko; Jason Turley

Attendance: 156

Officials:

Referee: Mr Ian Fissenden (Gravesend)

Assistant Referees: Mr P J Knight (Canterbury) & Mr R Joss (Margate)