Tooting and Mitcham United 1 Dulwich Hamlet 1

Ryman Isthmian League Division One South

Monday 9^th April 2007

Still unbeaten on their travels to Imperial Fields, the Hamlet still left the home of their earnest rivals somewhat unfulfilled despite a draw that ended a long run of victories for Billy Smith's boys. Whilst the point for Tooting looks set to cement their place in the play-offs, Dulwich manager Wayne Burnett was instead lamenting the two points lost as both Dover Athletic and Fleet Town closed the gap on fourth place Hamlet to a single point. For those two contenders the dubious luxury of a game in hand. For Dulwich the mission is simple, win all three remaining games and put the pressure on their rivals to do likewise.

Laboured though it was victory over Horsham had buoyed the Hamlet ahead of the Easter Monday derby encounter, though Tooting had set the standard with four victories in eight muscle-sapping days. For the Terrors this was a fifth game in ten days, perhaps lassitude would prove a greater enemy than their guests. They certainly looked asleep when Dulwich took the lead after just 3 minutes. A free kick wide out on the left was swung in by Mazin Ahmad and with ‘keeper Dave King dreamily coming to collect, Justyn Roberts drifted in unobserved, eeting the ball a yard in front of King and nodding a simple header into the unguarded net.

King's hands looked safer when he casually gathered a long distance effort from Jamie Coyle but the Tooting number one was almost embarrassed again as Shawn Beveney, playing in an orthodox striking role, robbed Joe Vines of the ball as King dithered but his blushes were spared by Jason Pinnock who had rushed back to cut out the Hamlet man's pull back across the empty net.

On the quarter hour a Tooting free kick promised much but, flinging himself headlong, Joe Vines could not find the target with a diving header. Joe's striking sibling, Paul, tried to get in on the act but was beaten to the ball by the head of Coyle, though the Hamlet skipper came within an ace of doing his opponents job for him, the back header almost deceived Simon Overland between the sticks for the Pink and Blue boys. The fearsome feet of Paul Vines were soon on show though with a cracking strike on the run from all of 25 yards but an unruffled Overland made light work of gathering the effort.

Ten minutes to the break and the pace of Damien Scannell keeps the ball from running for a throw in. An adroit pass found Beveney, neatly spinning off his marker Joe Vines but his attempt to smack the ball inside King's near upright failed to trouble the keeper. Two minutes later and Joe Vines was once again the victim of Beveney muscle as the Dulwich man won the chase for Scannell's through ball. For a moment the goal beckoned as Beveney took the ball round the prostrate King but on a dusty, end of season pitch the ball bobbled below his feet and King was able to stretch out a hand and whip the ball off his toes.

A frenzied final few minutes saw Ronnie Green lash over a threatening cross from the left wing, Overland battling ahead of Paul Vines and Ben Abbey to connect with a vital punch before a Hamlet shout for a penalty died on the wind, Romauld Bouadji's body check on Serge Musungu seem as innocuous by referee Mr Crouch. Injured in the process, Bouadji required attention from the trainer, the third Tooting player to do so in the half after King and Joe Vines. Those delays would prove telling as Paul Vines continued his irresistible scoring run with a poached equaliser four minutes into stoppage time. Hamlet were culpable in not clearing their lines though twice they had the chance and twice they reneged on the opportunity. The ball fell at last to Paul Vines on the edge of the penalty area and spinning on a sixpence to meet the ball he lashed a shot toward the far bottom corner of the net that left Overland standing as it ricocheted in off the base of the upright.

A lesser Hamlet might have buckled but the fighting spirit was much in evidence in a second half that promised much, delivering all but further goals and the ubiquitous red card that this encounter almost demands. 10 minutes in, a corner belted hard to the back of the six yard box is met by a towering header from Coyle, King's defender again roving his saviours as the ball is hacked off the line. From a throw Abbey turned on the ball to attempt a goalward strike only to find a Pink and Blue body blocking his path. A moment later Scannell hit the accelerator pedal, cut in from the right wing and dispatched a torpedo on target that King could only pat away. Beveney latched on to the rebound but defenders, like monochrome wasps, crowded him out.

The Hamlet made a change, Ahmad replaced by Leigh Bremner as the game plan changed from raiding to all out assault. Within a minute of taking the field, Bremner was in the thick of things going down under the challenge of Bouadji as the two were in hot pursuit of long ball down the middle. The man in black was unimpressed, Bremner's disappointment echoed by that of the travelling faithful.

Dulwich daydreaming in the middle of the park saw the ball given away to Green, his electric pace the potential undoing of the Hamlet but Roberts came to the rescue, sweeping across to dispossess the pocket rocket as Overland's goal hove in view.

The last quarter hour saw Dulwich move into overdrive in search of that elusive winner, their opponents stretching aching sinew of aching limbs, catching the minutest breath as they fought manfully to preserve that unbeaten run. It should have been ended with 13 minutes left as the Hamlet missed the most glorious of chances to once again reclaim the lead. A booming clearance from the boot of Overland was the starting gun for a headlong chase won by Scannell, who held off his marker before squaring the ball across to Bremner. All the goal beckoned but from the edge of the six yard box, the horrified Bremner slotting the ball straight into the hands of a mightily relived custodian. The substitute had a chance to make amends within a minute as the Tooting defence almost buckled under the weight of full blown attack. A free kick half-heartedly cleared to Scannell lurking in the D was hammered back in to Beveney, his effort rolling under King but as Bremner went hunting to stab the ball home, it was the unlikely figure of Paul Vines in first to lash the ball to safety from off his own goal line. Moments later the Tooting number 9 was back in familiar territory, meeting Green's right wing cross with a looping header that made Overland stretch to the limit in plucking the ball out of the air.

Never moribund in its closing stages, victory could still have gone to host or Hamlet. Another penalty claim, more in hope than expectation as a Hamlet header struck an upraised Tooting hand. Then a present of the ball made to Pinnock but spurned like Granny's Christmas jumper as Overland got the angles right, diving right to clutch the winger's angled shot.

Teams:

T&MFC: Dave King; Colin Hartburn; Dean Hamlin; Matt York; Adam Broomhead (Capt.) (Jamie Findlay 72); Romauld Bouadji; Jason Pinnock; Joe Vines; Paul Vines; Ben Abbey; Ronnie Green

Substitutes not used: Eben Allen; Aaron Day; Danny Carroll; Sheikh Ceesay (GK)

Cautions: Romauld Bouadji 48 (Delaying Free Kick)

DHFC: Simon Overland; Jason Turley; Gavin Dayes; Justyn Roberts; Jamie Coyle (Capt.); Lewis Tozer (Kenny Beaney 89); Shawn Beveney; Nicolas Plumain; Serge Musungu; Damien Scannell; Mazin Ahmad (Leigh Bremner 66)

Substitutes not used: Phil Williams; Daniel Morris; David Milton

Cautions: Jason Turley 45 (Foul); Gavin Dayes 45+1 (Dissent)

Attendance: 350

Officials:

Referee: Mr Ian Crouch (Eltham)

Assistant Referees: Mr Peter Georgiou (Wandsworth) & Mr Ahcene Yahiaoui (Loughborough Park)

Goalscoring:

0-1 DHFC Justyn Roberts 3^rd minute

1-1 T&MUFC Paul Vines 45^th minute (+4)

Dulwich Hamlet 4 Horsham YMCA 1

Ryman Isthmian League Division One South

Saturday 7^th April 2007

With a convincing result but unconvincing performance the boys from Champion Hill at last broke their four draw streak to return to winning ways. Ultimately the game was a comfortable victory over this season's surprise package, Sussex County League Champions Horsham YMCA; though in the early exchanges it seemed as if the Hamlet were already in post-season mode such was the sluggishness of their play. It took a 19th minute goal for the visitors and the introduction of Mazin Ahmad in its aftermath to give Pink and Blues the wake-up call they so badly needed.

Frustrated by Fleet in midweek the encounter saw Leigh Bremner replace Daniel Morris in the vanguard whilst Jason Turley reclaimed the left back spot from Nicolas Plumain. Having put the cat amongst the pigeons with a late, if doomed to be fruitless, charge towards the play-offs, the YMCA were determined not to be overawed though their cause was assisted by a Hamlet side that barely simmered in Easter sunshine. YMCA had already threatened before their early breakthrough, Scott Kirkwood looking in vain for a penalty after colliding with Jamie Coyle, having neatly flicked the ball past him. Soon after the same player failed to take advantage of free kick 2 yards outside the box, lashing a shot always curling wide of the mark in the wake of an over elaborate set piece. No such lack of precision from Steve Davies in the 19th minute, the burly number 9 eluding the Hamlet defence as Matt Russell rolled a pass into his path and from the corner of the six yard box, he planted the ball in the far corner of Simon Overland's net with as much ease as his namesake might pocket the black at The Crucible.

Replacing the out-of-sorts Shawn Beveney with the Mazin Ahmad proved a masterstroke by Hamlet supremo, Wayne Burnett, the tricky winger adding an instant buzz to the Dulwich attack. Three minutes later and the sides were back on level terms. Ahmad whipped in a cross, tempting and teasing. Lewis Tozer, staying up after a corner, threw himself at the ball, his header springing up off the turf to cannon against the crossbar as ‘keeper Dean Ruddy stretched in vain. Following up on the rebound was Justyn Roberts, neatly nodding the ball home past a helpless custodian.

A Phil Williams trademark charge up field promised much but a trio of defenders closed around him and the chance died. YMCA threatened again as the Hamlet defence opened up and Davies slipped a pass across the face of the area to Dan Sackman. Overland stayed alert though, flinging himself at the Horsham striker's feet to block, the rebound off Sackman knocked for a corner.

Williams set off once more on a foray into YMCA territory before being crudely barged off the ball by the lumbering Ellis Hooper. Less lenient officiators might have seen his challenge worthy of dismissal but Mr Daly chose merely to caution the offender. Dulwich would exact more painful punishment from the free kick. Kenny Beaney provided the delivery, the unfortunate Hooper stuck out a lanky limb, leaving Ruddy flat-footed as his defender's intervention diverted the ball against his own upright. Quickest to the rebound was Leigh Bremner, reinforcing his poaching credentials as he slammed the ball under the diving Ruddy to put Dulwich ahead.

Six minutes later a Ruddy clearance was returned with interest and as Damien Scannell chasing the lopping pass, he seemed to be impeded as he took a swing at the ball. The assistant referee was quick to signal an infringement and despite the protestations of the YMCA boys, referee Mr Daly pointed to the penalty spot, booking skipper Tom White for the apparent transgression. The comments continued as Ahmad waited to take the spot kick, defender Dean Carden's critique earning him his side latest caution. Unfazed by al this, Ahmad steeped up to the mark and unleashed a fierce strike to dispatch the ball into the back of the net as Ruddy flung himself the wrong way.

Dulwich might well have further cemented their lead before the break. Williams run ripped through the heart of the YMCA rearguard, his pass releasing Bremner, too fast for the last line of defence but snatching at his chance. The final shot full of venom but always rising over the Ruddy crossbar. Were it a boxer the YMCA woodwork might well have been withdrawn from the fray, so much punishment was it taking. In stoppage time, Roberts rose highest to meet a corner, his header crashing back off the battered crossbar.

The half-time break seemed to dull the Hamlet momentum, YMCA almost punishing them early on with a quickly taken free kick on the edge of the area. Fortunately Overland remained vigilant, smothering a low drive from Nick Levett, using the referee as cover as he sneaked into the box. Even the dismissal of Hooper for a second caution, skittling over Gavin Dayes as the Hamlet man ran on to Beaney pass down the left flank of the YMCA, failed to ignite the fire of the Dulwich attack.

Still Ruddy was kept on his toes, a flying save preventing an own goal from Glen Woodburn as Ahmad's left wing cross cannoned off him. Within a minute he was back in action, saving from Beaney, a curling shot out of the D after Scannell's run from the wing had been smothered on the edge of the area. Scannell himself was denied; his run performing open heart surgery on the beleaguered YMCA defence before a well-struck low drive was parried away by the diving Ruddy at the base of his right-hand post. Cutting in from the wing, Ahmad sent a rising shot just over the crossbar before a low Scannell strike on the run was touched on to his post by Ruddy. Ahmad and Bremner linked up well after the winger had brought inside from the right wing, the forward flicking the ball into the path of Scannell but from 12 yards out he struck his effort into the body of a relived Ruddy. The ubiquitous Scannell found Bremner overlapping on the right. Neatly sidestepping his marker, Bremner lashed a cross into the six yard box towards substitute David Milton, the inopportune intervention of a defender seeing the ball loop over the bar of Ruddy. At last in stoppage time, the tireless Scannell gained reward for his industry, tucking the ball home after an excellently worked move, though it took a fortuitous deflection off a covering defender to deceive Ruddy.

Teams:

DHFC: Simon Overland; Jason Turley; Gavin Dayes (David Milton 68); Justyn Roberts (Nicolas Plumain 56); Jamie Coyle (Capt); Lewis Tozer; Shawn Beveney (Mazin Ahmad 20); Kenny Beaney; Leigh Bremner; Damien Scannell; Phil Williams

Substitutes not used: Daniel Morris; Serge Musungu

YMCA: Dean Ruddy; Dean Carden; Nick Levett; Ellis Hooper; Jamie Lovegrove; Tom White (Capt.); Matt Russell (Dan Taylor 58); Dan Sackman; Steve Davies; Andy Ottley (Richard Greenfield 75); Scott Kirkwood (Pat Massaro 80)

Substitutes not used: None

Cautions: Ellis Hooper; Tom White; Dean Carden

Sent off: Ellis Hooper (2^nd Caution)

Attendance: 237

Officials:

Referee: Mr Stephen Daly (Woolwich)

Assistant Referees: Mr Craig Hicks (Sutton, Surrey) & Mr Andrew Roberts (Kingston-upon-Thames)

Goalscoring:

0-1 YMCA Steve Davies 19^th minute

1-1 DHFC Justyn Roberts 22^nd minute

2-1 DHFC Leigh Bremner 32^nd minute

3-1 DHFC Mazin Ahmad (Penalty) 38^th minute

4-1 DHFC Damien Scannell 90^th minute