Dulwich Hamlet won an absolute thriller at Champion Hill, beating Canvey Island 2-1 and securing their status as an Isthmian Premier Division side for the 2025/26 season.

Canvey Island went ahead in the 11th minute after Bradley Sach fired a half-volley towards goal and into the bottom-left corner.

The referee dished out a number of yellow cards throughout the game, with the most important of those going Arj Krasniqi’s way in the first half.

Into the second half, and Amaru Kaunda got the Hamlet level after the ball fell to him inside the box, which came due to Anthony Jeffrey working hard down the left and managing to put in a ball which looked certain to be going out.

A moment of absurdity came when Krasniqi was given a second yellow and sent off for supposedly time-wasting at a corner, despite Dulwich needing a goal to secure their position for next season.

However, the red card didn’t prove to be influential, as a couple minutes later in the 88th minute Dulwich were given a late penalty.

Luke Wanadio stepped up and tucked the ball into the bottom left corner, beating the Canvey goalkeeper Bobby Mason.

With that, it ended 2-1 at Dulwich, and with Hendon drawing 3-3 with Chatham Town, it meant that the South London side had done enough and secured their safety.

NEXT AT CHAMPION HILL: 

Tickets for our final match of a dramatic 24/25 Isthmian League season against Chatham next Saturday are available here.