A disappointing defeat in a game where Dulwich lost their way after taking the lead.

This was a game that Dulwich dominated early on but that drifted away from them after they had established the lead.

Dulwich pushed forward from the off with some crisp passing on a difficult surface and with a very strong wind. Without Kevin James again and with Mathieu Boyer pkreferred to Billy Crook, The Hamlet made all the early running.

The first clear sight of goal came as Nyren Clunis was set free behind the home defence but he was thwarted by home keeper Chalmers-Stevens as he tried to round him one on one.

Minutes later Erhun Oztumer made space on the edge of the box and his shot beat the home keeper but struck the post and rebounded into the keeper's arms.

It came as no surprise when Dulwich took the lead. Jerome Walker was brought down inches outside the box and Xavier Vidal struck a free kick past the wall and under the keeper's dive.

That moment signalled the end of Dulwich dominance and Canvey Island got back into the game. However, they had not created anything of note until
their equaliser in the 33rd minute. Jay Curran received the ball in the box on his chest and was given time to turn and thump a shot high inside Chico Ramos's near post.

With their tales up the home side now enjoyed territorial advantage and with 2 minutes left of the half grabbed what proved to be the winner. Peter Adeniyi seemed to have lots of time to bring the ball out of defence but presented it to Harrison Chatting who advanced and beat Ramos.

The second half was almost a non event as Dulwich couldn't summon up the guile to break down the home defence with the strong wind making the game increasingly scrappy. The referee had to hand out a number of cautions as the tackles flew in from both sides. Chico Ramos had to rush from his line to prevent a third goal and despite pressure Dulwich were unable to muster many clear sights of goal. Erhun Oztumer fired wide from a position from which he would normally hit the target and there were 2 good shouts for penalties as shots seemed to strike the hands of defenders rushing to charge them down.

With four minutes remaining Oztumer finally got a chance to run on goal but he was halted unceremoniously by Canvey defender Bartley who had earlier been booked and so saw red.

Despite this late numerical advantage and an increase in pressure on the home goal, The Hamlet were unable to find an equaliser.