Hamlet v Lewes (Isthmian League) Saturday 16.03.24

[Pink Panther]

We have a normal train service to East Dulwich for this one, but no Overground via Denmark Hill.

It's the third meeting of the clubs this season, with Lewes having won 2-0 at Champion Hill in the FA Trophy in October, while Hamlet visited Sussex in December and won by the same score to take 3 points.

 

[Moroccan Sunset]

Just had a watch of the training video on YouTube (link below). Looks to me like we've got at least one new player ahead of tomorrow.



Intrigued as to where it's filmed! Can't imagine we've got an indoor facility out the back of CH, although I confess I haven't checked recently!

 

[DHFC_Programmes]

Just had a watch of the training video on YouTube (link below). Looks to me like we've got at least one new player ahead of tomorrow.



Intrigued as to where it's filmed! Can't imagine we've got an indoor facility out the back of CH, although I confess I haven't checked recently!

We get to use CPFC's training facilities from time to time so it is maybe there.

 

[kwardgk]

We get to use CPFC's training facilities from time to time so it is maybe there.

Just had a watch of the training video on YouTube (link below). Looks to me like we've got at least one new player ahead of tomorrow.



Intrigued as to where it's filmed! Can't imagine we've got an indoor facility out the back of CH, although I confess I haven't checked recently!

This is at the University of Greenwich and the inside dome they have on Sparrows Lane (I think that is where it is, I just put the postcode in my Sat Nav and hope for the best!

 

[Pink Panther]

Just had a watch of the training video on YouTube (link below). Looks to me like we've got at least one new player ahead of tomorrow.

I don't think it's unusual to have additional players in for training, and sometimes when a new face appears in the team we're told he's been training with the squad for a number of weeks. This may be a new signing direct from another club, or it may be someone who will never be seen again. I didn't watch the whole video, although I thought I saw a new player warming up with the substitutes before last week's match. Had an AJ Harris-Sealy hairstyle, although he was never closer than about 30 yards away so I didn't really get a close look.

 

[Pink Panther]

There are quite a lot of "6 pointers" today, including our own game. A good chance of Billericay losing again at Hornchurch, and it would be helpful if Chatham win at Hastings. At least two of Enfield, Horsham, Wingate and Bognor are guaranteed to drop points, so a win will definitely improve our position.

Kingstonian required a pitch inspection this morning (game on) so our visit on Wednesday could still be doubtful if there's any more heavy rain before then.

A crucial Saturday in the play off race- and the relegation fight - The Pitching In Isthmian Football League

We’ve first v fourth, sixth v fifth, and big battles in the race for the play offs and to avoid relegation. Here’s our Pitching In Isthmian Premier preview.

www.isthmian.co.uk

 

[Pink Panther]

Today's team:

 

[El Matador]

Great win but not a great performance. Mills was outstanding and Constable had some good saves but that was about it. Still keeps us in the play off hunt so move onto Wednesday night.

Noticed Hak was in the stand. Was he serving a touchline ban?

 

[EDC]

Pretty mad in the DKH end in the second half watching from the other end.

 

[El Matador]

Concern seeing JBW going off with what looked like a bad injury. Been one of our best players the last few months and would be a real miss if he's out for the run in.

 

[AveryDave]

 

[EDC]

Not a great performance but a superbly ground out result, more than happy with that and results elsewhere have gone in Dulwich’s favour.
I thought the crowd were great today, really into it and the remaining fixtures are going to be mighty affairs, the Billericay home game and Carshalton away especially, Bognor next weekend too.

 

[Pink Panther]

Great win but not a great performance. Mills was outstanding and Constable had some good saves but that was about it. Still keeps us in the play off hunt so move onto Wednesday night.

Noticed Hak was in the stand. Was he serving a touchline ban?

I believe Hak got a 4 match ban for comments made to the referee after we lost at Enfield. I'm not sure why it's taken the FA 3 months to deal with it.

If matches were decided on possession and pass completion we'd have been well beaten today. As it was, we won thanks to a pair of set piece goals at each end of the first half, and also had the closest near miss in the second half when Wanadio clipped the near post from a tight angle and the ball flew across the goalmouth and out for a goal kick on the other side.

It took just 2 minutes to take the lead when a vicious inswinging delivery beyond the near post from a corner by Wanadio was knocked into his own net by a defender. A Braham-Barrett throw near the corner flag after 40 minutes led to a second goal after the ball was returned to the taker, who hoisted a high ball into the six yard box that looked like providing a straightforward catch for the keeper, only for Mills to get in front of him with an amazing leap to head the ball into the net.

For all the away team's possession, I can only recall Constable making one moderately difficult save to block a fierce shot from an angle at the near post, plus a handful of others we'd expect him to deal with. Most of the second half took place in our half of the pitch and I thought we gave the ball away a bit too carelessly too often, but the back four looked pretty solid against a team who move the ball well and are capable of picking holes in a defence, as they showed in winning the Trophy tie at Champion Hill last autumn.

Concern seeing JBW going off with what looked like a bad injury. Been one of our best players the last few months and would be a real miss if he's out for the run in.

He seemed to pull a hamstring in closing down an opponent in the corner, then he forced himself to cover a few more yards to put the ball out for a throw. I was very close to the incident and couldn't believe he tried to carry on, especially as Hatfull had already been prepared to replace him by the time the referee waved him back on. He walked behind me during the second half with his right thigh heavily strapped.

 

[liamdhfc]

I believe Hak got a 4 match ban for comments made to the referee after we lost at Enfield. I'm not sure why it's taken the FA 3 months to deal with it.

If matches were decided on possession and pass completion we'd have been well beaten today. As it was, we won thanks to a pair of set piece goals at each end of the first half, and also had the closest near miss in the second half when Wanadio clipped the near post from a tight angle and the ball flew across the goalmouth and out for a goal kick on the other side.

It took just 2 minutes to take the lead when a vicious inswinging delivery beyond the near post from a corner by Wanadio was knocked into his own net by a defender. A Braham-Barrett throw near the corner flag after 40 minutes led to a second goal after the ball was returned to the taker, who hoisted a high ball into the six yard box that looked like providing a straightforward catch for the keeper, only for Mills to get in front of him with an amazing leap to head the ball into the net.

For all the away team's possession, I can only recall Constable making one moderately difficult save to block a fierce shot from an angle at the near post, plus a handful of others we'd expect him to deal with. Most of the second half took place in our half of the pitch and I thought we gave the ball away a bit too carelessly too often, but the back four looked pretty solid against a team who move the ball well and are capable of picking holes in a defence, as they showed in winning the Trophy tie at Champion Hill last autumn.



He seemed to pull a hamstring in closing down an opponent in the corner, then he forced himself to cover a few more yards to put the ball out for a throw. I was very close to the incident and couldn't believe he tried to carry on, especially as Hatfull had already been prepared to replace him by the time the referee waved him back on. He walked behind me during the second half with his right thigh heavily strapped.

That was a great performance without the ball and full of discipline. Mark Ricketts was the outstanding player on the pitch as he is so disciplined and knows where to be defensively.

Not always pretty but very effective

 

[pengedragon]

Thought we were incredibly fortunate to be 2-0 up at half time today but saw the 2nd half out fairly comfortably. Tantalisingly close to the top 5 now though, could be an exciting run in if we can start performing again

Some of our fans are real dicks by the way

 

[Alex W]

Really enjoyed today, that felt like the ideal modern Hamlet crowd.

Busy, but not painfully full. A lot of otherwise bored Palace fans, but who are quasi-regulars and turned up to support Dulwich. I've no idea what it sounded like elsewhere, but was great craic behind the goal.

 

[scousedom]

Some of our fans are real dicks by the way

Dare I say that when the attendance goes down 20% because the rugby is on, it tells you a thing or two.

 

[Al Cunningham]

Personally i thought our best players were the 2 centre backs and the keeper. We are very good at set pieces at both ends of the pitch which is a very good thing

 

[Alex W]

Dare I say that when the attendance goes down 20% because the rugby is on, it tells you a thing or two.

It tells you that today was the highest attendance since 27th January, so not very much really

 

[scousedom]

It tells you that today was the highest attendance since 27th January, so not very much really

I was referring to the 2600 last week vs 3400 expected. Today 10% off but then the rugby kicked off later than last week so some will have decided they can get back to Clapham on time to see both. Imagine now it’s finished it’ll be back to sell outs.

 

[Alex W]

I was referring to the 2600 last week vs 3400 expected. Today 10% off but then the rugby kicked off later than last week so some will have decided they can get back to Clapham on time to see both. Imagine now it’s finished it’ll be back to sell outs.

Sorry, I was really pished when I wrote that and I realise it sounded very rude. You're probably right!

 

[Alex W]

Thought we were incredibly fortunate to be 2-0 up at half time today but saw the 2nd half out fairly comfortably. Tantalisingly close to the top 5 now though, could be an exciting run in if we can start performing again

Some of our fans are real dicks by the way

Would be interested to know more about the dickish behaviour you experienced, maybe it's something we can try and stamp out

 

[Moroccan Sunset]

Agree with the above - it wasn't pretty, but it got the job done, and looking at the table now you realise what a significant 3 points it was.

He gets a lot of stick on here, but thought Mark Ricketts was excellent yesterday - plugged so many gaps in the backline, covered for full backs, disrupted their runs from midfield. Haven't been his biggest fan, but thought he was superb and it was really quite nice to see a signing from Boreham Wood actually play well!

Lewes felt like a Gavin team in disguise. Death by a thousand passes. Lots of intricate interchanges and loose formations but absoutlely no cutting edge. They shunted a midfielder into the false nine role which just congested everything in the centre of the pitch and played into our hands. The few chances they did fashion they couldn't convert and Hak's tactics were spot on: he gambled that they wouldn't be able to break us down if we stayed low and compact and they couldn't.

I actually thought they had quite a few good players - the #2 (Jake Elliott) they took off in the second half was one of the best centre halves I've seen play against us for ages. Sablier, their #15 on loan from Bromley, looked lively (although thought Ricketts did well to keep him in check), their #14 and #3 were useful and dare I say it, I thought baby Tamplin was impressive when he came on, too. The Lewes manager held some kind of 15-min team post-mortem on the pitch afterwards, which I found laughable: it wasn't the players' performances that cost them the game, it was his systems/tactics!

That said, thought we rode our luck at times and it took us bloody ages to nullify the threat from Sanchez down the right hand side in the first half. I think we're crying out for a number 10. I think Scott is the midfielder that is meant to be playing closest to Mills, but he doesn't look entirely happy playing on the half-turn - think he's far more effective driving through midfield. I haven't seen Egan play yet, so I don't know if he's that sort of player, in fairness. Deacon was quiet, but got stuck in defensively, which was good to see. Hope JBW's injury isn't too bad and he'll make it back for Weds or next Sat.

Big win at the business end of the season.

 

[editor]

Photos from Max!

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet move into 8th place after crucial 2-0 win over Lewes, Sat 16th March, 2024

It wasn’t the most convincing of performances, but Dulwich Hamlet did enough to secure all six points at Champion Hill, in front of another jam packed crowd of just under 3,000. Max was there…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[zedr]

Thought we were very lucky to come away with a point let alone 3! Their passing game was lovely, and were pulling our defence all over the place. That said, it's nice to come away with another clean sheet.

Thought Constable, Parry and Chambers had a decent game and Lewes managed to squander a number of chances too. Their 15 chatted to the crowd during a stoppage and said its like this every week for them, they get the breaks, get through on goal but never convert.

 

[Pink Panther]

Lewes felt like a Gavin team in disguise. Death by a thousand passes. Lots of intricate interchanges and loose formations but absoutlely no cutting edge. They shunted a midfielder into the false nine role which just congested everything in the centre of the pitch and played into our hands. The few chances they did fashion they couldn't convert and Hak's tactics were spot on: he gambled that they wouldn't be able to break us down if we stayed low and compact and they couldn't.

I thought Lewes were reminiscent of when Gavin rebuilt our first promotion winning team after the departures of Erhun, Adeniyi, Ellis Green and Dean Lodge. Our top scorers that season were Carew and Vidal with 12 each and Clunis with 7. We still finished 4th, but were the lowest scoring team in the top 10. We limped into the play-offs with only 2 league wins after January, then lost the semi-final at Margate, whom we'd beaten home and away in the regular season. That was 9 seasons ago and the division had much less strength in depth in those days. Personally I find it quite boring after a while to see a team endlessly passing the ball without scoring goals and winning.

Lewes had a lot of decent individuals but they didn't seem to amount to the sum of their parts. We were able to play the way we wanted by scoring so early, then scored again before half time, while they ended up chasing the game. I never really felt they looked like getting back into the game, although obviously it would have made it more interesting if they'd got one back. It was the exact opposite of when they beat us in the Trophy. On that occasion they scored within the first ten minutes and added another before half time, but although we had enough chances and didn't concede again, we were well beaten in the end.

Above all else, the contrast between those two games illustrates the progress we've made since October. Only Hornchurch and Chatham have scored more goals than us all season, and we're now up to 23 points in the rolling 10 match form guide.

 

[liamdhfc]

I thought Lewes were reminiscent of when Gavin rebuilt our first promotion winning team after the departures of Erhun, Adeniyi, Ellis Green and Dean Lodge. Our top scorers that season were Carew and Vidal with 12 each and Clunis with 7. We still finished 4th, but were the lowest scoring team in the top 10. We limped into the play-offs with only 2 league wins after January, then lost the semi-final at Margate, whom we'd beaten home and away in the regular season. That was 9 seasons ago and the division had much less strength in depth in those days. Personally I find it quite boring after a while to see a team endlessly passing the ball without scoring goals and winning.

Lewes had a lot of decent individuals but they didn't seem to amount to the sum of their parts. We were able to play the way we wanted by scoring so early, then scored again before half time, while they ended up chasing the game. I never really felt they looked like getting back into the game, although obviously it would have made it more interesting if they'd got one back. It was the exact opposite of when they beat us in the Trophy. On that occasion they scored within the first ten minutes and added another before half time, but although we had enough chances and didn't concede again, we were well beaten in the end.

Above all else, the contrast between those two games illustrates the progress we've made since October. Only Hornchurch and Chatham have scored more goals than us all season, and we're now up to 23 points in the rolling 10 match form guide.

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Brilliant summary PP. possession football flatters to deceive sometimes. Constable made a couple of good stops but he was not tested very often. Lewes are pleasing on the eye but in the 2 league games have hardly created any chances and been susceptible to quick direct attacks.
So I don’t think we were lucky at all, we showed a flexible approach to our play that nullified their strengths.
In fact, we came closer to a third goal than they did to getting any.
There are many ways to play football which is what makes it so fascinating and we gave an outstanding performance of how to play without having the ball, which was a result of excellent coaching and carrying out a game plan.

 

[pengedragon]

Would be interested to know more about the dickish behaviour you experienced, maybe it's something we can try and stamp out

Was too late for a seat on Saturday but found a good spot near the opposition bench

To be honest it was one person especially who had decided the day was all about him

He'd already engaged with their manager before kick off and was delighted when he got a response, turning around to someone in the seats saying he'd "got him" already and pointing and doing the wanker sign

He carried on in a similar manner for most of the first half and just before ht called their assistant manager a clown, he heard and was ready to have a go back

The manager turned round and politely said why don't you just enjoy your Saturday and let us do the same

He was ready to go back again at which point I tapped him on the shoulder and told him he'd been behaving like a twat for the whole game, he said something like he was just having a laugh but we didn't hear a peep from him for the rest of the game

 

[muel18]

Was too late for a seat on Saturday but found a good spot near the opposition bench

To be honest it was one person especially who had decided the day was all about him

He'd already engaged with their manager before kick off and was delighted when he got a response, turning around to someone in the seats saying he'd "got him" already and pointing and doing the wanker sign

He carried on in a similar manner for most of the first half and just before ht called their assistant manager a clown, he heard and was ready to have a go back

The manager turned round and politely said why don't you just enjoy your Saturday and let us do the same

He was ready to go back again at which point I tapped him on the shoulder and told him he'd been behaving like a twat for the whole game, he said something like he was just having a laugh but we didn't hear a peep from him for the rest of the game

I cannot comprehend at any level but especially in non league why someone would act like that, I have to say I rarely see that from our fans so hopefully he was just a pissed day tripper who won’t come back. Well on you for having a word though must of done the trick!

 

[jimbarkanoodle]

I was referring to the 2600 last week vs 3400 expected. Today 10% off but then the rugby kicked off later than last week so some will have decided they can get back to Clapham on time to see both. Imagine now it’s finished it’ll be back to sell outs.

This is 100% accurate. I wonder is there no rugby clubs in London that play on a Saturday with a bar that those people could go to? Especially since you can drink in view of the pitch at all levels. I know the club wants their money which is understandable, but I think if I actually liked rugby I'd probably chose to go and watch it over football on a Saturday afternoon.