Yet again Hamlet scored first but dropped 2 points, and it was an infuriating and avoidable goal to concede.
Bognor suffered a couple of early setbacks when one forward was booked for shooting after the whistle had gone for offside in the first 5 minutes, then another forward limped off injured with less than 20 minutes gone. We'd had a couple of let offs, losing possession in our own half with poor passes or miscued clearances, but seemed to have settled down to play some decent attacking football before taking the lead from a free kick ten minutes before half time. Wanadio delivered an inswinging cross to the near post for Parry to touch past the keeper from close range. The good work was undone just as we moved into first half stoppage time, faffing around with tentative short passes in a congested area on the halfway line while defending high up the pitch, and when the ball was lost a quick pass released their right winger into space down the touchline. He looked suspiciously offside from my position (almost in line on the other side of the pitch) but the linesman will have had a different perspective on the nearside, and it's fair enough to give the benefit of the doubt if it was close. Someone did well to get across and cut off a direct run at goal, but instead he pulled it back towards the penalty spot for the substitute to arrive unattended and slam his shot past Constable.
Hamlet looked more settled at the back after the break, with Bognor becoming less adventurous, but we couldn't get much change out of a solid pair of centre backs. Hamlet cranked up the pressure towards the end, as Mills fully tested the keeper with a fierce first time shot from 15 yards (possible the longest range attempt of his Hamlet career!) and I thought we should have had a penalty when Braham-Barrett was taken out inside the box, chasing a telling pass from Wanadio.
And even their co-con they said we should have had a free kick/pen in injury time.
I was right in line with that on the near side. It was well inside the box and looked a clear foul to me, the defender was nowhere near the ball. Annoyingly the referee had been giving Bognor free kicks all afternoon for marginal challenges, but he didn't want to know with the big one right at the end.
Interesting that Bognor seemed to decide during the second half that a draw was enough for them even though any half decent attack had the Dulwich defence worried.
I couldn't understand that. They seemed to have enough pace in their forward line to worry us, plus Dan Smith at centre forward, whom we know to be a capable performer when fully fit.
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