Whitehawk HOME (Isthmian League) Saturday 17.08.24

[Pink Panther]

An opportunity to record back-to-back wins after Tuesday's dramatic climax. Whitehawk have lost both their previous matches against Billericay and Hastings.

It was mentioned in Tuesday's programme that we've only won more than 2 of the first 5 games once in the last decade, despite qualifying for the play-offs in all of the first 4 of those years. That was in 2019/20, when we won the first 3 games against Tonbridge, Wealdstone and St Albans but were ultimately placed only 19th on points per game, in the season curtailed by the pandemic.

If you're travelling to East Dulwich Station, there are only 2 trains per hour instead of the usual 4, as the Beckenham Junction via Crystal Palace route is suspended for engineering works. This also affects the next two weekends.

 

[Pink Panther]

Same team as Tuesday:

 

[EDC]

Sloppy possession by Porter just inside the Dulwich half leads to Whitehawk taking the lead.

 

[EDC]

Wanadio penalty so far over the bar it scatters blackberry pickers on Greendale.

 

[EDC]

1-1 Mills back post.

 

[EDC]

There’s a large bird of prey hovering over the ground.

 

[Pink Panther]

There’s a large bird of prey hovering over the ground.

Yes, Millsy at set pieces.

 

[EDC]

2-1 Mills again, similar goal. Dulwich finished the first half strongly and continued it into the second.

 

[Pink Panther]

2-1 Mills again, similar goal. Dulwich finished the first half strongly and continued it into the second.

The Falcon strikes again!

 

[EDC]

2-2 I fucking give up.

 

[Pink Panther]

3-3 in the end, but definitely a game we should have won. Some well crafted goals from the Hamlet, but those conceded featured an ugly combination of careless turnovers in possession and failure to react quickly enough to deal with the consequences, plus we missed a penalty.

 

[bkbk]

I think they (Whitehawk) might struggle and that'll be a big two points dropped

 

[Al Cunningham]

Chaotic game. Good for neutral. Good have been 6 v 6. On the positives well played the front 3 who i thought all had very good games. Stand out for me was Jeffrey . The main negative was we looked like letting in a goal every time they went forward. Losing German was obviously a big blow but thought Dani did better than the rest when he came on. We were so slow apart from him. Midfield errors by Porter and Hand were punished emphatically. I still believe we need a covering midfield player in addition to Hand and Scott.

 

[pengedragon]

This defending is doing me no good whatsoever, hopefully German isn't out for any length of time. We are obviously going to have a tough season if we are conceding 2s and 3s every week

AJ and Luke very good again, keep giving them the ball and we'll be OK at the other end

 

[KPMG]

Does anyone know where our press is? If you do please let Hak know.

 

[jimbarkanoodle]

I go to about 5-10 games a season and this was the earliest in the season I've been, it was enjoyable with the good weather and manageable crowd size of 1,000 odd. It was an exciting draw, if I dont see a more entertaining game this season I wouldn't be surprised, although being able to find a good vantage point certainly helped.

Seems to be some improvements around the ground, perhaps I hadn't previously noticed it but there was air con in the club house and they've added San Miguel to the bar, with no increase in prices from last year. The pitch looked in great nick, and have they always had the sprinkler system that pops up from below the turf? Again, perhaps I just hadn't previously seen it but the cooling mist at half time was welcomed.

 

[Pink Panther]

I go to about 5-10 games a season and this was the earliest in the season I've been, it was enjoyable with the good weather and manageable crowd size of 1,000 odd. It was an exciting draw, if I dont see a more entertaining game this season I wouldn't be surprised, although being able to find a good vantage point certainly helped.

Seems to be some improvements around the ground, perhaps I hadn't previously noticed it but there was air con in the club house and they've added San Miguel to the bar, with no increase in prices from last year. The pitch looked in great nick, and have they always had the sprinkler system that pops up from below the turf? Again, perhaps I just hadn't previously seen it but the cooling mist at half time was welcomed.

From memory, the sprinkler system was installed in summer 2006, when Fisher Athletic were using the ground and it was owned by a consortium of their people, prior to that club going bust and Hadley/Meadow buying the freehold. The pitch was always a bone hard dust bowl by the later months of the season before that, then it was impossible to get the grass to grow adequately by August.

On reflection I thought we played quite well for the most part yesterday, it was just the ease and swiftness with which Whitehawk punished momentary lapses for all three goals that wound me up, with Barnes left completely exposed every time. The second one was particularly gruesome, with Hand turning away and sending an aimless ball backwards into space when it appeared he could have played a simple pass out to Jeffrey on the right touchline instead, and that was immediately after our direct free kick had rebounded from the defensive wall.

It's early days yet, and we've had 5 teenagers with very limited experience of open age football (German, Hand, Taiwo-Pratt, Collins, Daniels) playing a part in the first 3 games. That's on top of several other players being out injured, with Jordan Wynter the biggest loss on what I saw in pre-season, as an experienced player who can stiffen the area in front of the back four.

 

[AveryDave]

A frustrating afternoon. Careless errors borne of a lack of concentration, confidence and intensity, with many of the same hallmarks of the less impressive performances from last season. The manager's stated intention for the start of the season was to tighten up at the back, using the core of last year's squad to get out of the traps quickly - neither of which have been achieved at this very, very early stage.

The team put out over the first three games has been overly unbalanced - no specialist right-back available, no defensive player in midfield, and Porter in a no-mans-land role neither linking the midfield or playing off of Mills. And as Pink Panther says, a lot of inexperienced players in their teens in that mix as well - can't imagine it was the plan to use them all together so early on. On top of that, Barnes' confidence seemed to evaporate as soon as his kick was charged down in the fourth minute at Wingate and Binnom-Williams is clearly not in the best physical shape, possibly more so than last season.

If a fully fit squad was available there are four or five spots that would be evident to change - Ramsay at right back, Ross Marshall next to German in the middle of defence, Wynter next to Hand with Scott ahead of them in the advanced role - maybe Barnes needs to get out of the firing line for a few games, but of course there isn't a back-up option available to do that.

You can't build a squad that can cope with unlimited absences, and I'm sure Hayrettin is planning for 50 games not just three - but the choice to let Jack Westbrook go after his contribution in pre-season seems like a miss at the moment, and as promising as Collins looks, a tried and tested back-up to Mills who could have hit the ground running is a continuing problem that is at least a season old. You'd say a goalkeeper to challenge Barnes would be ideal as well but I'm sure a loan option would be available if needed, following the Gavin Rose model.

Ramsay and Wynter back soon would be a great start to solving some problems. Let's hope German isn't going to be missed for too long. Collins has to get some meaningful minutes - what's the point in bringing in an inexperienced player if you don't give them experience? Hopefully Hayrettin isn't so committed to Porter that he sees him as undroppable.

The next couple of performances will reveal more - an improved Chatham side that had our number over both games last year but who have got off to a similar start as ours, and a chance to exorcise the 6-2 battering by Cray Wanderers a few months ago. Four points would be a stabilizing return.

 

[Pink Panther]

Highlights belatedly available: