FLEET SUNK BY SAWYER SIZZLER

16.04.10

"What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again." "Beware the ides of March." "He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass." TheIdes of March are gone and so is Caesar, his empire crumbled to dust, but from the pen of the Bard of Avon came no warnings of strange happenstances upon the Ides of April. Those who would speak of humble Hamlet inflicting defeat upon flying Fleet, not once but twice within the space of the month and with defences unbreached, as intact as the honour of nun, might have been yclept fanciful dreamers, at the very least, laced up in straitjacket and hauled off to Bedlam at worst.

Hamlet's barren run of results when the brief candle of victory lit up dark days and darker nights have passed into memory, not distant enough yet, and seven points from nine have lifted the relegation noose from round their necks but Fleet posed deeper questions. Their last three outings had seen them match the Hamlet's points tally and though goals had proved elusive, their defence had remained impregnable, not once breached in nearly five hours of football.

So this was the Hamlet's task; break down the walls of Fleet resistance whilst keeping the raiders at bay. For this Junior Kadi was restored to the line-up, the battle scarred joints liberally dosed with the WD40. Back came the D'Artagnan of the defence, Nic Plumain, rebuilt more times than Steve Austin taking the place of Yinka Salami, left champing at the bit after suspension ruled him out.

With all the clubs ahead of Fleet in the promotion queue in action tonight, the Blues' boss, Andy Sinton, knew victory was vital if his men's greasy grip of the coattails of the play-offs were not to loosen. However, Sinton's side have been best by ragged form all season. The erstwhile England wingman was missing suspended midfielder, Leigh Rumbold. However Mr Rumbold was the only absentee as he picked from a full-strength squad bolstered by the return of central defender Steve Hemmings, paired with Steve Noakes at the heart of that frugal Fleet defence.

Football for the Puritan Roundhead not the flamboyant Cavalier, hand-to-hand combat in the teeth of a battle fought in the frontlines, cavalry at the ready but the infantrymen to the fore. Apt then that one of the foot soldiers should have the first of the chances in a harum-scarum start to the contest, Noakes lashing a cleared corner back through a host of players from the edge of the area but finding only Phil Wilson, on guard at his goal. Dulwich responded with some wing wizardry from Nyren Clunis, the Academy graduate seamless move into big school continuing as he danced a merry dance along the goal line, only for his cross cum shot to deflect off a defender into the arms of Lyall Beazley, keeping watch at his near post. Beazley again earned a mention in dispatches with a brave block at the feet of Justin Bowen, charging through the middle like a bull elephant at mating time. Beazley one more to the rescue as Sol Pinnock capped a session of head tennis with a drop volley saved by the Fleet number one.

Fleet wasted a dangerously positioned free kick as Darren Wheeler lamped his effort so freakishly wide of the target, the ball seemed to on a course back to the half way line as it flew out of play for a throw-in.

Emblazoned in a kit that gave them the appearances of road workers who failed to leap from the path of oncoming traffic, Fleet's defence continued to come under the steamroller of Hamlet attacks and once more they had the agility of Beazley to be thankful as he battered out a low drive from Alim Sesay. Bowen went hunting the rebound but was denied as a timely inception sent the ball hurtling out to the boundaries.

The badge of leadership sometimes weights heavy upon its wearer but Tyron Smith was proving a muscular figurehead. Powering out of defence, he launched a long pass from his own half that skimmed the head of Osa Obamwonyi as Joe Nwoko latched on to the ball behind him. The finish was weak though and Wilson was untroubled by a dainty attempt to lob him. As the half drew to a close Wilson was again in the action as Tyron Smith drilled back in a cleared corner from the acutest of angles only for the Hamlet 'keeper to fall upon the ball at his near upright.

At the break, Fleet withdrew slight winger Darren Campbell who was getting little change from his Dulwich opposite numbers, brining on beefy Bernard Asante in his stead. However, the changes seemed to unsettle the visitors and Dulwich, too often sluggish after the halftime oranges, began in electric fashion. Obamwonyi had a towering header at a corner hacked away from the goal line within a minute of the restart but the respite was brief. Another corner was meekly mopped up by Fleet, the clearance gathered in by Clunis lurking on the wing. His low ball into the heart of the action took a mammoth deflection off a defender's foot but with Beazley advancing from his line for what he assumed might be an easy gather he was surprised by the bandit of the box, the ever alert Frankie Sawyer zipping in before the stunned 'keeper could collect and drilling the ball adeptly into the now unguarded net.

The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time. Sawyer's goal was the spark to light the touch paper. Escaping his bonds on the right, Sawyer clipped the ball back into the path of Pinnock but the striker's radar was on the blink as the shot nestled in the side netting.

For Fleet new impetus was needed. Defender Ian Griffin was sacrificed as striker James Rose augmented the offence, only for his first tackle to earn him the evening's first caution. Indeed the loss of the defender seemed to tell more upon the Blues as Dulwich found more and more holes to exploit. Peerless Beazley had to work overtime to keep the wolf from the door, tipping an delightful free kick curled from the boot of Pinnock though had Sawyer found the extra inch to touch home Ellis Wilson-Joseph's redelivery he would have been powerless to prevent Dulwich doubling their lead. Like gunslingers in Ol' Dodge City Sawyer and Beazley continued their shoot off, the latter on top this time with Beazley late down on a grass strimming drive from outside the area before beating down a shot after the Hamlet striker had slipped the leash of the plod patrolling defence.

A hairy moment for the Hamlet as Fleet played Ping-Pong in the home defence, the ball reluctant to be cleared as the visitors tried in vain to force home the equaliser. At the darkest hour, it was Wilson to the rescue as a header seemed set too loop over him and into the net but somehow he found the fortitude and the stretch of the sinews to claw the ball away from under the crossbar.

Almost apologetically, Fleet found themselves on the back foot once more. Overlapping left Pinnock's white-hot cross was met on the flick by Clunis, precociously holding off a defender with moiré miles on the clock if less hair on the head. The snapshot grazed the crossbar.

Time to wind down the clock, methinks. A double substitution as the old guard lost two of its number, Kadi and Bowen, replaced by young pups in the shape of CJ Campbell and Roy Odiaka. No loss of thrust as Clunis' escapades on the flanks set up Pinnock for a strike that went close. However with time evaporating this was no time for heroics if not the obligatory caution for delay of play brandished at a suitably staggered Sesay. It would be an age before the final whistle blew as Mr Mason found pockets of time known only to Einstein hidden away in the game. Eight minutes or more by the death but Hamlet's cherubic youths brushed back Fleet's sporadic late flurries to claim a ripely deserved triumph.