Chatham v Hamlet, 24 August 2024

[Bugpowder Dust]

I can't make this one but I did go to last seasons game. Chatham is a ground of two halves - one end is new with a small, steep, safe standing section, and a trendy bar underneath. The other end was flat with a large portakabin with a small badly-stocked beer counter. View from the sides was low and flat and far back.

Train was easy, there's a decent wetherspoons near the station and it's a short Uber or a longer walk to the ground iirc.

If it hadn't been new years day I would have been tempted to get off one stop early at Rochester and visit some of the older alehouses in the old town before the match.

 

[tonysingh]

I can't make this one but I did go to last seasons game. Chatham is a ground of two halves - one end is new with a small, steep, safe standing section, and a trendy bar underneath. The other end was flat with a large portakabin with a small badly-stocked beer counter. View from the sides was low and flat and far back.

Train was easy, there's a decent wetherspoons near the station and it's a short Uber or a longer walk to the ground iirc.

If it hadn't been new years day I would have been tempted to get off one stop early at Rochester and visit some of the older alehouses in the old town before the match.

I'm a local and Rochester is by far a better option for a drink or food pre game. It's not really walkable to the ground so a sherbert will do you. If people really do wanna drink in Chatham though, aside from the Wetherspoons you mentioned, there's a decent bar called Poco Loco that has a superb Mexican restaurant attached or there's a proper old school dive of a pub called the Alexandria which is right next to the station. I promise its nicer than it looks

 

[Nivag]

 

[Bugpowder Dust]

Should we stay on after the match for the concert? That's the rhetorical question

 

[Pink Panther]

View attachment 439454

Not "Air Myles" Quinn, I hope! (One for the dinosaurs there.)

 

[EDC]

I'm a local and Rochester is by far a better option for a drink or food pre game. It's not really walkable to the ground so a sherbert will do you. If people really do wanna drink in Chatham though, aside from the Wetherspoons you mentioned, there's a decent bar called Poco Loco that has a superb Mexican restaurant attached or there's a proper old school dive of a pub called the Alexandria which is right next to the station. I promise its nicer than it looks

Man alive, I had to visit a job in Chatham this week. Walked the length of the pedestrian High St around 9am as time to kill. Got accosted a number of times. Whether or not Rochester is any better you tell me, last time I was there for work I honestly can’t say there were any pubs in the High St. which I honestly thought I’d like to visit if I wasn’t driving. It does have the castle and Cathedral which are well worth a visit.

 

[lwrs79]

More tripe served up by haks Dulwich.

 

[Paula_G]

It’s a bit weird trying to follow updates on Twitter. It’s as if admin is just repeating things from Football Web Pages. I switched to the Chatham feed after about 40 minutes.

 

[AveryDave]

Over the last 10 games through the end of last season and the beginning of this one, we’ve won two, drawn two and lost six, scoring 16, conceding 28.

 

[editor]

More tripe served up by haks Dulwich.

Cack Hak out!

 

[Al Cunningham]

Bit of a strange one as we did have a lot of possession but no real cutting edge. We looked more likely to equalise rather than Chatham getting a third. Having said that they did go into defensive mode after getting their 2nd.

The defence without German looks slow and one dimensional. Was surprised to see him start after his injury last week and the dodgy plastic pitch. Predictably, he didnt last long before his injury returned. 10 goals against in 4 games is not good. With the lack of pace at the back slipping the ball between our defenders is a profitable option for teams if they have a bit of pace .

Midfield looked like it would struggle without Wynter Scott and Mark Marshall . In reality we did have a lot of possession there and and Hand clearly has a lot of qualities and i believe will be a good player for us when he can be combined with Scott and Winter. With Krasniqi you know what you are getting lots if effort and closing down but no real incisive pass or running past the forwards . Porter just looks lost somewhere between Mills and the midfield with no.link play.

The Forwards have been our strength this season but Chatham had done their homework. Doubled/trebled up on the wingers and 2 strong centre halfs kept Mills out of the game . Our goal was a clever/sneaky freekick from Wanadio which went in at the near post ably assisted by a shirt torrential downpour. I was disappointed to see Eddie Dsane has ended up at Dartford as he us exactly what we need . We never find if the opposition defenders have any pace or not.

Having said all this still enjoyed the day with good people in the Dulwich crowd with good banter and strong opinons . 3 points needed on Monday .

 

[Paula_G]

Not one for going full on Statto here but do wonder where the team might be without the goals of Luke Wanadio

 

[KPMG]

The Forwards have been our strength this season but Chatham had done their homework. Doubled/trebled up on the wingers and 2 strong centre halfs kept Mills out of the game .

We are so predictable with only one style of play. We need alternatives with some fast forwards who can run at defenders to put them under pressure..

 

[AveryDave]

It’s a bit weird trying to follow updates on Twitter. It’s as if admin is just repeating things from Football Web Pages. I switched to the Chatham feed after about 40 minutes.

Don’t think our Media Manager was there, so probably someone stepping in. Got a bit better second half. Would imagine we won’t get an interview with Hayrettin for the same reason, which is a shame.

On a related note, no highlights of the Whitehawk game are up yet, or the Norwich game. Feels like we’re constantly struggling to keep up on the media side of things.

 

[Pink Panther]

I missed this one, but the number of goals we're conceding looks like a real worry, and the number of injuries doesn't help either. I'm fairly sure Ramsey and Wynter were pencilled in to be first choice starters at 2 and 4 respectively, while German was the outstanding player in pre-season and he's gone off within 15 minutes in each of the last two games, so it's hard to imagine he'll be available tomorrow.

Getting the most out of our top wingers also requires attacking full backs who can support them. Ross Marshall looks very much a centre back plugging a hole, so he's not going to do that on the right, while JBW has looked rather ponderous in the early games. He was booked in both home games for pulling back opponents who'd outpaced him, and he should have had an earlier booking in the Hendon game when they took a quick free kick (and scored from it) for doing the same thing, and I don't recall this being an issue last season. Hudson is the alternative at left back, a young player Hak talked up as a real prospect, but he's also out injured.

My rule of thumb is that we need 20 points from the first 10 games to have a realistic chance of winning the league, and 15 to have a platform for a top 5 finish. (Our lowest points total after 10 games in any of the 6 seasons we've qualified for the play-offs is 16, although we went on to win D1S outright with 18.) Last year we fell well short with just 10, and it got worse before it started to get better. We weren't even close to where we needed to be until late autumn. With a decent core of players retained this time, there's no real excuse for a repeat once the injuries start clearing up.

 

[AveryDave]

We are so predictable with only one style of play. We need alternatives with some fast forwards who can run at defenders to put them under pressure..

If the opposition can keep Mills quiet, which happens more often these days, we’ve got little to offer beyond a bit of magic from Jeffrey or Wanadio. As has been mentioned numerous times, Porter is giving little to nothing in the current system. Double up on the wide players and you’ve got us under control. In the brief minutes we’ve seen Collins, it looks like he’s more able to play on the defender’s shoulder and run behind, but Hayrettin seems reluctant to try him so far.

As Al Cunningham said, we need someone like Eddie Dsane playing off the front man, who can link, pass and make their own opportunities. Scott is probably best suited for that role from the current squad. Ilic might also be that player, but again, Hayrettin seems reluctant to give him more than ten minutes a game at the moment.

It seems pretty obvious what the current problems are, so the management team must be okay with what they’re getting. Guess they feel it’s not far away from working, or will be better when they get missing players back. Let’s hope one or both of those happen soon, otherwise there’s a risk of last season happening all over again, with too much ground to make up even if it starts coming together.

 

[Pink Panther]

Incidentally, it looks like Chatham is a Tory club, even though the town now has a Labour MP:

‘Tories must win everyone back - not just Reform voters’

A Kent MP in the running to be the next Tory leader says his party needs to go in a new “conservative direction” to win back voters.

www.kentonline.co.uk

 

[Al Cunningham]

All our goals and penalty miss have come from out wide. 2 Mills headers and a Porter finish from crosses. 3 ( fantastic) cross shots from Wanadio. 2 pens from wingers being brought down and handball penalty from a corner. Pretty much stop the wingers and stop Dulwich at the moment. Thats what Chatham did as no threat down the middle from us, soconcentrated their resources out wide. Thought Lewis had a good late cameo yesterday and would be tempted to start him and push one of wingers inside with Mills. I thought Marshall had a decent game yesterday and got forward for crosses. Nothing behind Jeffrey on the left though.

 

[Don't Slow Down]

Lovely picture in their bar at the far end.

 

[AveryDave]

Kent has long been a Conservative region - only changes in the big national swings to Labour (1997, 2024), and then settles back into near wholly Tory at the first available opportunity. Even this time round, there were more total Conservative votes than Labour.

This Wikipedia page has some decent stats on it:

List of parliamentary constituencies in Kent - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[editor]

Max pics!

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet slump to 15th position after 1-3 defeat at Chatham Town, Sat 24th Aug 2024

A disappointing performance at Chatham Town saw Hamlet leak more goals in their 1-3 defeat yesterday. Max was there to capture some of the scenes for Brixton Buzz:

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[tonysingh]

Man alive, I had to visit a job in Chatham this week. Walked the length of the pedestrian High St around 9am as time to kill. Got accosted a number of times. Whether or not Rochester is any better you tell me, last time I was there for work I honestly can’t say there were any pubs in the High St. which I honestly thought I’d like to visit if I wasn’t driving. It does have the castle and Cathedral which are well worth a visit.

Chatham is a working class town that's had more than it's fair share of social deprivation, much like with northern pit towns if you consider the closure of the working dockyard and the attendant services. Throw in zero investment in the town and hey presto, you have a handy pariah of a place. Chatham is akin to a boxer that's been battered senseless for a dozen rounds but still rises off it's stool. There is way more to this place than first meets the eye from a burgeoning art scene (of which I am part) to a fascinating local history including a leading role in radical politics.

Rochester has had much more attention from both central government and the local council. Without knowing what you go for in a pub or bar, it's hard to nail down a recommendation off the top of my slaphead. There's a superb place called Three Sheets to the Wind, run by a Scandinavian family up near the Star Hill end if micropubs are your thing. Or you have the Queen Charlotte for a more traditional boozer a few doors down, just to name a couple.