Hamlet v Billericay (Isthmian League) Saturday 19th October 2024

[Pink Panther]

Squad news and matchday information ahead of tomorrow's game:

https://dulwichhamletfc.co.uk/latest-news/mens-news/preview-dulwich-hamlet-vs-billericay-town

There's a full 4 trains an hour service between London Bridge and Tulse Hill via East Dulwich this week, but there will be no service at all for next week's Trophy game.

 

[EDC]

Good team are Billericay, organised.

 

[pengedragon]

They are, I don't think a point would have been undeserved though

 

[wphillips7]

My god, that referee was appalling

 

[Pink Panther]

Lost 1-0 to a goal from a corner shortly before half time. Billericay deserved the win, they were the more polished and cohesive unit and will probably be champions if that was a typical performance. The referee blighted the afternoon with an absurdly pedantic display and showed at least a dozen yellow cards, mostly for innocuous fouls by players who hadn't committed any previous offence, in a game that didn't have any bad fouls and just one brief silly spat near the end. Almost inevitably there were second yellows for JBW and their right back.

Our best spell of the game was the 25 minutes when we were at a numerical disadvantage. It was disappointing we seemed to lose momentum once the numbers were equalised with 15 minutes to go. It was a tight contest with few clear chances beyond pot shots from outside box. Chambers had our best effort with a powerful header from a far post corner, tipped away by the keeper.

 

[zedr]

Referee had a shocking game. Having said that I don't think it really tipped the game either way. Billericay were very well organised defensively which is why they're unbeaten in the league. I thought we put in a good performance. Some nice moves and switches of play, and battled hard. Think Hak's found a decent starting line up, and will be nice to see how we fare when we have everyone back from injury.

Noticed that Ralfi Hand came off early for Porter despite playing well first half. Wondering if he's okay?

 

[lwrs79]

I get this is step 3, but the standard of refereeing week in week out is absolutely abysmal. How many games do we have to watch where the referee turns up with the approach of “I’m not gonna let this big crowd influence me” and give us absolutely nothing and buy everything from the away team.

I agree Billericay were probably the better side, but even when we’re not great we create chances and can score at any time. They deserved to probably win but the game was ruined by another referee well and truly out of his depth.

12 yellows and I counted 1 questionably bad tackle all game.

 

[EDC]

No probably about it, they were better and nothing the ref did influenced the result.

 

[Pink Panther]

I get this is step 3, but the standard of refereeing week in week out is absolutely abysmal. How many games do we have to watch where the referee turns up with the approach of “I’m not gonna let this big crowd influence me” and give us absolutely nothing and buy everything from the away team.

I agree Billericay were probably the better side, but even when we’re not great we create chances and can score at any time. They deserved to probably win but the game was ruined by another referee well and truly out of his depth.

12 yellows and I counted 1 questionably bad tackle all game.

There has to be a sense of perspective when criticising referees. If you're just going to say "the standard is abysmal", how is this bloke any worse than the others? The standard at our level reflects the level we're playing at. Most of them are OK and do their best, just as the players do at the same level, and neither players nor referees will generally be as good as those at higher levels.

Referees overcompensating for being influenced by our big crowds just sounds like an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory to me. Even if the odd one does, there's probably going to be a greater number who actually give stuff in our favour because of 3,000 people shouting for it. We'd only dropped 2 points at home this season before yesterday, and that was due to our own defensive blunders against Whitehawk.

I’d really like to know what sort of directives or guidelines yesterday's referee was following, because they certainly weren’t the same as I’ve seen applied in every other match in this or any other recent season. (I'd love to read an assessor's report, if there was one present.) He wasn’t especially poor in terms of missing incidents, or calling them the wrong way, but I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen anyone else applying the laws in such an intrusive and authoritarian manner. There used to be an adage that “the best referees are the ones you don’t notice”, and he could barely have done more to draw attention to himself if he'd tried. Frankly it spoiled a game I’d been particularly looking forward to, between two decent sides. I didn't get a programme, and I haven't seen his name mentioned elsewhere, but whoever he is I really hope I don't see him again in a hurry.

 

[liamdhfc]

There has to be a sense of perspective when criticising referees. If you're just going to say "the standard is abysmal", how is this bloke any worse than the others? The standard at our level reflects the level we're playing at. Most of them are OK and do their best, just as the players do at the same level, and neither players nor referees will generally be as good as those at higher levels.

Referees overcompensating for being influenced by our big crowds just sounds like an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory to me. Even if the odd one does, there's probably going to be a greater number who actually give stuff in our favour because of 3,000 people shouting for it. We'd only dropped 2 points at home this season before yesterday, and that was due to our own defensive blunders against Whitehawk.

I’d really like to know what sort of directives or guidelines yesterday's referee was following, because they certainly weren’t the same as I’ve seen applied in every other match in this or any other recent season. (I'd love to read an assessor's report, if there was one present.) He wasn’t especially poor in terms of missing incidents, or calling them the wrong way, but I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen anyone else applying the laws in such an intrusive and authoritarian manner. There used to be an adage that “the best referees are the ones you don’t notice”, and he could barely have done more to draw attention to himself if he'd tried. Frankly it spoiled a game I’d been particularly looking forward to, between two decent sides. I didn't get a programme, and I haven't seen his name mentioned elsewhere, but whoever he is I really hope I don't see him again in a hurry.

There was an Assessor there yesterday and it’s clear he refereed for the benefit of him and not on the merits of the game.
The other fact is that referees are shared at Steps 3 & 4 so they can be doing a match at Step 4 in front of less than 100 at Step 4 one week and then be faced with 3000 at Champion Hill the next. It clearly has an effect on some.
I know from conversations that Billericay were no more impressed than us. Even worse is I believe the Assessor was critical of JBW first booking so overall the referee failed on every level.

 

[liamdhfc]

No probably about it, they were better and nothing the ref did influenced the result.

You mean other than leaving us a man down for 30 minutes due to an erroneous first booking.
On balance, a draw would have been a fair result.

 

[wphillips7]

You mean other than leaving us a man down for 30 minutes due to an erroneous first booking.
On balance, a draw would have been a fair result.

Totally agree Liam. They were effective, but no better than us

 

[Pink Panther]

Totally agree Liam. They were effective, but no better than us

I thought Billericay were clearly more composed and controlled for the first half, even though they didn't really create more clear chances. I just felt they were playing the game they wanted to, whereas we weren't quite getting it right, and ultimately we were already chasing the game before the sending off.

We had a couple of decent first half efforts on goal from Jeffrey, one of which very nearly squeezed past the keeper before it was cleared, and the cross when Chambers didn't quite make enough contact to beat the keeper at the foot of the post. Watching the first half in line with our back four, we conceded possession too cheaply too often in the middle third, whereas Billericay retained the ball for longer to build pressure. Maybe it's just a contrast in styles? We seem to aim for quick thrusts rather than the patient approach, which is exciting and difficult to stop when it works, but we can be quickly under pressure again when it doesn't.

We made the tactical switch of Porter for Hand at half time, which increased our attacking options, but obviously we lost JBW almost immediately. We played incredibly well to make light of being a man short, but we'll never know how much more effective we could have been without that disadvantage. I think our ten men gave so much during that 25 minutes period that some of them were probably running on empty by the time our opponents lost a man.

The referee made a lottery of the game by treating it as a personal audition for the assessor. He literally ruined a decent contest. Both our centre backs were on a yellow card within the first 20 minutes for completely innocuous challenges that were barely worth a free kick. How on earth would he have handled it if it had actually been a bad tempered affair with dangerous challenges and off the ball incidents?

 

[wphillips7]

I thought Billericay were clearly more composed and controlled for the first half, even though they didn't really create more clear chances. I just felt they were playing the game they wanted to, whereas we weren't quite getting it right, and ultimately we were already chasing the game before the sending off.

We had a couple of decent first half efforts on goal from Jeffrey, one of which very nearly squeezed past the keeper before it was cleared, and the cross when Chambers didn't quite make enough contact to beat the keeper at the foot of the post. Watching the first half in line with our back four, we conceded possession too cheaply too often in the middle third, whereas Billericay retained the ball for longer to build pressure. Maybe it's just a contrast in styles? We seem to aim for quick thrusts rather than the patient approach, which is exciting and difficult to stop when it works, but we can be quickly under pressure again when it doesn't.

We made the tactical switch of Porter for Hand at half time, which increased our attacking options, but obviously we lost JBW almost immediately. We played incredibly well to make light of being a man short, but we'll never know how much more effective we could have been without that disadvantage. I think our ten men gave so much during that 25 minutes period that some of them were probably running on empty by the time our opponents lost a man.

The referee made a lottery of the game by treating it as a personal audition for the assessor. He literally ruined a decent contest. Both our centre backs were on a yellow card within the first 20 minutes for completely innocuous challenges that were barely worth a free kick. How on earth would he have handled it if it had actually been a bad tempered affair with dangerous challenges and off the ball incidents?

Agree with your first para pp . Strange game overall killed by ref. As the game went on I felt their game plan became more
obvious. Get the ball forward at their own pace, bypass midfield and play outside our box. Agree they had more control in the play but we were still dangerous and one could argue we outplayed them with ten.

Either way, a game I’d been looking forward for weeks wasn’t what it could have been.

 

[Pink Panther]

Hak's thoughts:



And those of Gary McCann: