Godalming Town 1 Dulwich Hamlet 0

Godalming Town 1 Dulwich Hamlet 0
Surrey Senior Cup – Second Round
Tuesday 27th November 2007

Ah autumn, season of misses and mellow fruitlessness as Dulwich to return the Surrey Senior Cup to Champion Hill after a seemingly eternal hiatus was railroaded at mist-shrouded Wey Court. To damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer, for the spark is seeming lost from the Hamlet. A fusillade of cannons blazed goalwards barely a ten day ago but now they are silenced, the powder dampened. First Chipstead now Godalming, 180 minutes with nary a shot in anger and not a goal for the hardened traveller to cheer. One would hope this goal famine is merely a blip, a minor drought before the clouds open once more.
Proclaimed as a grudge match between managers, Hamlet’s Craig Edwards and his erstwhile custodian Chuck Martini, whose acrimonious parting of the ways earlier this season might have kindled feisty flames amidst their charges, the contest instead embered like damp coals, barely able to summon up a lick of fire in a pusillanimous first half. The G’s prime threat in the early exchanges came from the direct delivery, freekicks hammered hard in to the heart of the Hamlet penalty area. Chris Wales’ 4th minute delivery had a few hearts pumping as Sheikh Ceesay lost the ball under pressure but was reprieved as Christian Webb failed to capitalise on the loose ball larruping the ball wide from a good position, if a tight angle. By contrast Dulwich’s threat was almost nonexistent. Strike partners Henry Darko and Scott Edgar in the vanguard, the little and large of the Hamlet attack, together for the first time were starved of the oxygen of possession as Dulwich’s midfield struggled with their demons, stray passes finding only yellow shirts, allowing Godalming to build and break, only to ultimately stumble on the paucity of their own finishing, the nocturnal ambulants of Farncombe more at danger than Ceesay’s goal, though he was called upon to deny Vitor Kiri after the lively midfielder had latched on the ball following some penalty area ping pong and lash the ball towards the net. A couple of ricochets but Ceesay reacted fast down to smother. All the more surprising then that the evening sole goal would arrive through error barely three minutes later. A long ball of the overhit variety should have been a simple matter to be dealt with but Ceesay and Ricky Dobson were on different wavelengths, the pair colliding allowing the ball to spill from the ‘keeper’s hands. A bemused Webb might not have been expected such an early present a month before the arrival of Old St Nick and for a moment it appeared as he had made a hash of the finish but his stabbed effort trickled inside the near post as defenders laboured in vain to reprieve their fallen ‘keeper.
Through anguished pleas for a penalty pierced the still night air when Benson Paka zipped along the goalline, only to be robbed as he sped into the six yard box, Dulwich remained determinedly second best, on the ropes as the yellow peril remained. Shooting remained as wild as ever and not until the final throes of the half did the G’s truly endanger Ceesay’s net. A Godalming corner caught Dulwich cold as Richard Brightwell made an unannounced, unsummoned reappearance on the field after a brief visit to the sidelines for treatment. Unattended he delivered the ball into the penalty area with a mighty wallop where Tyrone Peters pounced, his shot pinging around the box but failing to bear fruit as skipper Steve May hoovered up the ball on the goalline. Moments later came a rare break for the speedy Darko, his diminutive form battling past weightier opponents into the box, only for Yousef Metwali’s last ditch tackle to belt the ball from his toes as he made to strike the ball towards goal.
A goal to the bad, disjointed, disinterested Dulwich would face of the wrath of Edwards behind the walls of their dressing room, china cracking, paint blistered off the walls by stern, honest words. That lacklustre 45 minutes a change at the restart as the out-of-sorts Eniola Oluwa, an invisible man in midfield, made way for Sebastian Schoburgh. Though Godalming had the first threat with Webb’s drilled shot for the top corner clawed out by Ceesay in the first minute, the introduction of the wind on the wing fuel-injected the Hamlet forward drive with Dulwich slowing gaining the upper hand in the middle of the park. Unfortunately where it mattered they remained as impotent as ever failing to test a home ‘keeper who had looked a trifle shaky even when dealing with the most routine of crosses and back passes. Ten minutes in and Dulwich’s incision won a corner, deep delivery to the back of the six yard and Shayne Mangodza, resplendent in red bandana to match his attire, bulleted a header back that flashed across the face of goal. Five minutes later and the same threatening figure looming out of the mist but this time the centre-half’s header looped too high and plopped on to the roof of the net.
First a bulldog then a whippet, Schoburgh mugged Brahim Elloumani for the ball swinging away from him with a balletic turn before putting his foot on the accelerator, shrugging off a challenge from before lashing the ball through the face of Aneke Emeka’s goal but laden with too much pace for Edgar to apply the final, killer touch.
The wing attack intensified as Billy Chattaway reported for duty on the left whilst Stanley Muguo would add his drive to the forward impulse, Darko and debutant Vitor Tavares those to make way. But frustration remained at every turn, May earning a caution as that frustration manifested itself following the award of a contentious free kick. As time slipped through their fingers, Dulwich threw heart and soul into rescuing the game. Refusing to surrender a back pass, Chattaway hunted down the uneasy Emeka, David to the ‘keeper’s goliath, robbing him of the ball but turning the ball well wide of the target from a near impossible angle. With five minutes remaining at last a shot on goal as a free kick pumped into the box with meekly headed out to Muguo, predatory on the edge of the box, but his shot was as meek as the clearance though Emeka still struggled, spilling the ball but with no one on hand to punish him. Delaying tactics from the hosts meant only more stoppage time to suffer.

Teams:
GTFC: Aneke Emeka; Chris Wales; Brahim Elloumani; Desmond Patterson; Yousef Metwali; Richard Taylor; Richard Brightwell (Spencer Walsh 60); Tyrone Peters; Graeme Purdy (Glen Stanley 51); Christian Webb (Dennis Zadeikis 87); Victor Kiri
Substitutes not used: Matt Steer; Garry Aulsberry

DHFC: Sheikh Ceesay; Steve May (Capt); Gbenga Sonuga; Shayne Mangodza; Ricky Dobson; Vitor Tavares (Stanley Muguo 65); Sol Patterson-Bohner; Benson Paka; Eniola Oluwa (Sebastian Schoburgh HT); Henry Darko (Billy Chattaway 65); Scott Edgar
Substitutes not used: Nej Hussein (GK)

Officials:
Referee: Mr R Smith
Assistant Referee: Mr A Connor & Mr S Scott

Attendance: 83

Goalscoring:
1-0 GTFC Christian Webb 26th minute

Chipstead 1 Dulwich Hamlet 0

Chipstead 1 Dulwich Hamlet 0
Ryman Isthmian League Division One South
Saturday 24th November 2007

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania some time of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight

Rustic thoughts amid the Surrey Hills as Dulwich rolled through the russet and gold of late autumn, making their trek through the byways and country lanes to Chipstead’s bucolic High Road ground for the two clubs’ maiden competitive clash in Isthmian opposition. Once mighty Hamlet might have favoured their country cousins with a pre-season challenge match, or perhaps the Chips might have doffed the cap as they welcomed lofty guests into the fold but that is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain; the happy highways where I went and cannot come again. Now the boot is on the other foot, the genuflecting knee replaced with a hefty one in the groin as Liam Oxley first half stoppage goal settled a match that at times numbed the mind as much as the harsh, icy winds whipping across North Downs, the hardy band of locals unfazed, used to extremes of weather to match the mountainous Highlands of Scotland.
With his charges unchanged from the Croydon Athletic demolition of a week earlier, Dulwich manager Craig Edwards was keen to carry on where that game had ended, to stamp the Hamlet’s mark upon humbler hosts from the off and maintain the charge towards the play-off party and promotion. Barely 30 seconds from the off, a crunching tackle from Meshach Nugent left Stephen Boswell motionless on the turf. A cursory glance from referee Mr Smith, anonymity guaranteed, at the prostrate Boswell and play drove on, Dulwich attacking as a war of words erupted and a stream of invective flew between the dugouts. With Boswell still immobile, play finally was halted, the seriousness of the injury becoming apparent as four minutes of therapy failed to rouse the stricken defender and stretcher bore the fallen hero from the field of combat. From the wings came an understudy to steal the show, young Wayne Hibbert with the unenviable task of shackling the serpentine runs of Sebastian Schoburgh on the right.
Beneath saturnine skies scrappy, disjointed football produced few chances. The Chips threatened first with a brace of free kicks pumped into the six yard box but first Oxley then Scott Simpson were denied by Sheikh Ceesay as their efforts from close range were battered out by the young Hamlet custodian. Pace from the mercurial Schoburgh saw an opening self-created for the artful dodger of the wing but its finishing flourish was wide of the mark.
With the Hamlet next raid, a cross field ball picked out Nugent galloping away from his marker on the left, nicking the ball past Andy Parkinson as the ‘keeper sprung from his line to narrow the angle, but Parkinson had recovered his ground to block the ball as it was rifled in from an acute angle. The rebound was latched on to by Billy Chattaway, a stinging shot through a thicket of defenders but straight into the waiting midriff of Parkinson. But then the man with the gloves for the Chips had a point to prove for still the nightmarish Pink and Blue flashbacks of encounters past with the men from Champion Hill must still haunt his waking hours, ten times did Dulwich put the ball past him when he plied his trade under the Godalming standard.
Back and forth the ball pinged from pillar to post and back again but the game lacked cohesion as Dulwich struggled for rhythm and style against opponents prepared to hassle and harry for every ball. The stratagem brought with it added perils, Andrew Wareing the afternoon’s first caution as he lumbered into Shawn Beveney out on the flank, Beveney unable to heap punishment upon punishment as he rose almost unchallenged at the near post only to glance his header wide of the back stick. A swift rapier raid from the Chips suddenly had Dulwich on the back foot, Simpson sauntering beyond the last line of defence but thwarted as Ceesay did enough to block as he prostrated himself at the feet of the onrushing striker.
As if to further exorcise his Dulwich demons, Parkinson extended the shivering supporters wait for a goal as he stretched and twisted to imperiously brush away from beneath his crossbar a swirling cross cum shot from Chattaway away on the left. Then Beveney was his victim, the Chips ‘keeper blocking with his body as the Hamlet skipper preferred precision over his customary power have outstripped the last defender.
If the balance had swayed marginally more in Dulwich’s favour as the half wore, it would swing wildly on the side of the hosts as the curtain slowly came down on a protracted 45 minutes and more. A clumsy challenge might have been punished had not an alert Ceesay shovelled away a deflected effort at the base of his right-hand post as Simpson slammed his free kick against the wall. The corner brought further threat but the siege was lifted after Richard Williams unleashed a strike from the text book of horrors into the darkening skies and towards the bar, perhaps for a relieving pint of best. The watch clicked into those added minutes, Dulwich mentally already in the changing room as Simpson hit the accelerator pedal, almost embarrassing Ceesay who’d rushed from his line only for the ball to be curled over him but, mercifully, wide of the far upright. Dulwich would not be so fortunate a moment later as the deadlock was cracked at last. From the middle of the park Daryl Coleman supplied Craig Pitterson on the right, Ricky Dobson left for dead as Pitterson slid past him before pulling the ball back across goal to the waiting, predatory Oxley, a grateful recipient of the pass as the ball was drilled under the diving Ceesay from 12 yards out.
Harsh words rang through the rafters of the Hamlet dressing room at the break but it was the Chips who on the boil from the start of Act II. Barely three minutes had elapsed as the lively Simpson went hunting again in Dulwich territory, slamming a shot past an exposed Ceesay but only able watch powerlessly as the ball wide of the far post. Though Benson Paka looped an awkward shot over Parkinson’s crossbar following an excellent Schoburgh cross, the winger making a rare escape from the manacles of his constant shadow, Hibbert, Ceesay was back in the thick of things once more as he battered out a strong effort from Aaron Cole-Bolt.
Frugal in defence, frustrating at every turn, Chipstead were in miserly mood, unwilling to share let alone surrender their hard-earned points. Nary a chance for the Hamlet save Paka’s flicked head of the mark as Chattaway lopped the ball in from the left. Soon the livewire Simpson was at it again, dancing past Dobson before unleashing the exocet, Ceesay its match as he got down smartly to batter out the ball before a rapid reprise saw he deny Williams as the loose ball was swiftly latched on to. As if anchored in quicksand Dulwich’s attack seemed impotent. Even when Schoburgh fired the fuel injection to scoot into the penalty area, a tackle out of top drawer saved the Chips as Ashley Reid dived across to poke the ball off the toes of the flying winger. Even better the chance that fell to Chattaway, a long throw flicked on by Beveney, the young midfielder stretching to the ball 8 yards out ahead of a defender but only succeeding in firing the ball over.
The smoke curled from that luscious woodbine as the lifeblood was squeezed out of the Hamlet threat, augmented now by a corvette from the bench in the shape of Henry Darko but to no avail. Triumph is just try with a little umph added!

Teams
CFC: Andy Parkinson; Ashley Reid (Wayne Hibbert 3); Stephen Boswell; Fred Fleming; Andrew Wareing; Richard Williams; Craig Pitterson; Daryl Coleman (Joe Garner 86); Aaron Cole-Bolt; Scott Simpson; Liam Oxley
Substitutes not used: Steve Eggleton; Michael Lidbury

DHFC: Sheikh Ceesay; Sol Patterson-Bohner (Henry Darko 84); Ricky Dobson; Benson Paka; Shayne Mangodza; Steve May; Shawn Beveney; Sebastian Schoburgh; Meshach Nugent; Stanley Muguo; Billy Chattaway
Substitutes not used: Gbenga Sonuga; Scott Edgar; Junior Luke; Nej Hussein (GK)

Attendance: 134

Officials:
Referee: Mr G M Smith
Assistant Referees: Mr P B Wright & Mr T Burnan

Goalscoring:
1-0 CFC Liam Oxley 45th minute (+3)