From the past fortnight

Here's the round-up from our local papers over the past two weeks

Going back to just over a week ago, Thursday 11th September, the back page of the weekly 'Southwark News' had a picture of some of the crowd from the huge Hampton & Richmond Borough crowd, with the caption 'RECORD BREAKERS'.

Inside, they covered the game, and the day itself:

ROSE LEFT WITH MIXED EMOTIONS AFTER DRAW

Hamlet boss Gavin Rose was left with mixed emotions on Saturday as Hamlet could only draw with Hampton and Richmond Borough in front of a record crowd at Champion Hill.
There was much to celebrate for the Pink and Blues as 2,856 people came to watch Hamlet, helped by the 'pay what you want' promotion, but Rose felt his players didn't show their best in front of the packed house.
Hamlet twice led in the game thanks to a brace of goals from Ashley Carew only to be pegged back for the second time in the 90 minute when Paris Mason snatched a point for the visitors.
Although Dulwich were slow out of the blocks and not at their best they were also hampered by the harsh sending off of Kershaney Samuels on 66 minutes.
Not only did the second booking Samuels receive see Hamlet play a man light for the rest of the game but the dubious penalty enabled Hampton to equalise.
But Hamlet picked up their game after this injustice and when Carew smacked in a beautiful second effort with eleven minutes remaining it seemed the record crowd would have a win to celebrate.
But Mason stepped up as Hamlet struggled to clear their lines in the final minutes to restore parity.
Rose told the News: " The game was a bit topsy turvy and we did well to be still in the game after the first half, but in the second half I felt we were the better team and were the ones who would go on and win. When we went down to ten men we did well and did well to get in front but we could not hold on and perhaps overall the draw was a fair result."
The draw came on the back of a fine win over pre-season title favourites Margate four days earlier, something Rose felt contributed to his sides poor start to the game.
He said: "Mentally we were poor. We put a lot into the Margate game on Tuesday night and maybe the boys thought they could turn up against Hampton and roll them over. But you can't do thatin this league. They are a good side and they showed that, now Margate have almost made up for the defeat against us with the results at the weekend and we need to learn you have to play at the same level in every game."
The result clearly left the Dulwich gaffer in not the best mood for a post match Ice Bucket Challenge dunking, a charitable gesture performed by Hamlet management staff and players, but he admitted the club had reason to smile despite the result.
"I felt really proud of the club on Saturday but I had mixed emotions as I felt we put in one of our worst displays in front of a big crowd. Rose said. "I wanted to give people who came something to remember but it didn't really happen. But when I came back here to manage I felt this was a great community club with lots of untapped local talent, and Saturday shows our potential. There has been a lot of hard work off the pitch by officials in the last few years, and the players have done their part on the pitch too, and not just those here now, and we have all helped bring excitement back to Dulwich."
On the player front Marlon Patterson has been released by the club whilst Nigel Neita has been loaned to Billericay Town.

Below that main feature was an article on our Non League Day success:

Hamlet pull in record crowd at Champion Hill on Saturday

A record crowd of 2,856 people flooded through the Champion Hill turnstiles on Saturday smashing aclub record that had stood for fifteen years.
A 'pay what you want' initiative was embraced in East Dulwich as the crowd easily beat an attendancefigureof 1,835 that has stood since the 1988/99 campaign.
The turnout also beat a stadium record crowd of 2,274 achieved when AFC Wimbledon took on the now defunct Fisher Athletic in the 2005/06 season.
People streamed through the gates even after the game started and whilst some grumbled how much harder it was to get abeer than usual, few could dispute that the day was an unqualified success for the club.
Mishi Morath, a committee member and community liason offcier at Dulwich, said: "It was nerve wracknig building up to the day as we did not knowwhat to expect. But the day was amazing as wascrowd that came. Hand on heart I thought we might get around 1,500 people and that is why we talked about the possibility of breaking our own record against Southport. So to smash the ground record which washeld by Fisher Athletic was simply fantastic."
The day was a charity fund raiser with all profits from the encounter going to causes supported by the Mayor of Southwark.
both homeless charities, The Robes Project and UK Homes 4 Heroes, will now expect to divvy up a figure in the region of £6,000.
Hamlet were one of four non-league ambassadors for the anti-racism campaign Kick It Out and players and the management also took part in a mass Ice Bucket Challenge to raise further cash.
Mr. Morath added: "The idea for the day may have started with me but we had so many people pulling together including the supporters' trust, the club committee and Peter Adeniyi who came up with the Ice Bucket Challenge idea for players and management. The day shows that the club is changing and is now pulling together and I don't believe a day like this would have happened at Hamlet even four to five years ago."
A spokesman for Hamlet club owners Hadley Property Group added: "It was a truly amazing attendance-higher than a number og League One clubs-and great to see local people coming out in such force to support their local club. It really shows what a strong focal point the club is for East Dulwich, South Camberwell and beyond and how important a healthy future for Dulwich Hamlet FC is for the community across Southwark."

The following day, Friday 12th September, the weekly edition of the 'South London Press' featured Gavin talking about his squad:

ROSE READY TO WIELD THE AXE

Gavin Rose is set to wield the axe on his Dulwich Hamlet flops after seeing the Ryman Premier Division outfit take four points from a possible 15.
Freddie Ladapo's header secured a 1-0 win for Grays on Wednesday night and leaves the ambitious South Londoners eighth in the table. And a fed-up Rose has seen enough to decide that changes need to be made. "We weren't outplayed at Grays but we didn't do anything to justify getting a result-it was poor," said Rose. "We've been banging the same drum for 10 games since we came back and we haven't had the reaction we need. We'll need to probably start again. It's a massive disappointment. You give people a chance and you hope they take it but the receptiveness has not been there from the players. We've got our own personal goal for the club and I've got to make sure we retain it. We're not quite sure how many changes it is going to take but we'll do whatever we need to- even if that means some boys who are contracted are loaned out. At the moment it is an open canvas. We need to make sure we've got the right spirit in the dressing room to continue what we've been doing in the last few years."
Dulwich have released winger Nigel Neita.
And Rose has admitted that he is likely to rest some of his key men for tomorrow's FA Cup first qualifying round tie at home against Worthing. Terrell Forbes missed the midweek outing with a thigh strain while Lewis Gonsalves' calf troubled him in the Grays contest. Nyren Clunis and Dean Lodge have also been sidelined.
"We have to really think about the bigger picture," said Rose. "At this stage, with where we're at, the cup is not a big priority. Financially it doesn't make a big difference at this early stage. If we can sort everything out and we're still in the competition in two weeks' time then I might feel differently. I'll be resting people, dropping people and bringing people in because theleague game on Tuesday is more important than anything else."
Neita has been linked with Billericay Town.
Rose said: "He was a young lad who had been at Arsenal andwe got him hoping we could push him on again. But he never got his match fitness up to where we needed it. With the injuries to Nyren and Dean it meant he maybe got put in a bit quicker than he was ready for."

Earleir this week, the Tuesday midweek copy of the 'South London Press' concentrated our our FA Cup defeat, in their small non league column:

Poor Dulwich out of FA Cup

Dulwich Hamlet were dumped out of the FA Cup by Worthing after losing 3-0 at Champion Hill.
The Ryman League Premier outfit were outplayed by their visitors, who are a dvision below, in the first qualifying round.

Yesterday, in this week's 'Southwark News' the Cup defeat was also highlighted:

Dawes shuts on Hamlet FA Cup hopes

A second half effort from Lloyd Dawes sealed a comfortable win for Ryman League South side Worthing against Hamlet on Saturday.
Hamlet put in a poor performance against a side who ply their trade in a league lower than themselves, and fell behind as early as the sixth minute.
A Brannon O'Neill free-kick opened the scoring at Champion Hill and wasthe first of his two goals on the day.
Despite Hamlet starting the second period in a brighter manner than they had played in the firsrt, an effort by Dawes ensured The Rebels went into the hat for the next round of the FA Cup.
Manager Gavin Rose said: "We played against ayouthful team who were very good value for their win. The goals we gave away were soft but having said thatwe could have scored a few ourselves."
He added: "We have established ourselves in the Ryman Premier League and we should be expecting to beat teams a league below us. It is not good enough and no player can make any excuses as to why we are losing 3-0 to a team in a league below us."
On Tuesday night Dulwich returned to league action against VCD Athletic On Tuesday night Dulwich returned to league action when they travelled to VCD Athletic and with it they also returned to winning ways.
Hamlet picked up a comfortable 3-0 win with Dean McDonald bagging a first half goal, ascoreline which was added to in the second period by Lewis Gonsalves and Ibrahim Mansaray.

There was also an aritcle on Gavin talking about the campaign so far:

We've not played well all season-Hamlet boss Rose

Dulwich gaffer Gavin Rose believes his side have yet to hit their straps this season and is not shocked by his sides poor recent run of form.
Hamlet have lost four of their last six games, a run that includes a win over title favourites Margate, but Rose has stated that results merely masked poor showings before those games.
He told the News: "We have not played well all season and we have already made that clear to the players. Maybe when we got the results players felt we did not know what we are talking about, but we now we are not playing well and getting beaten so maybe they will realise what we are saying to them."
Following the weekend FA Cup defeat against Worthing goalkeeper Inigo Echepare and centre-forward Laurent Hamici have been released by Hamlet, and Rose warned others may follow.
He added: "There may be one or two other players who will go in the short term but that will be better for us in the long term. We need to get the right kind of players in and in the short term we will make the squad up with youth team players until we are sure we have the right person rather than signing someone on a whim. We won't turn things around overnight this way but we have to think of the long term too. We may well just hold on and make a late push towards the end of the season."
The injury situation at Hamlet still does not look like rosy and is not likely to ease soon Rose has stated.
Nyren Clunis, Harry Ottaway, Kevin James and Bagasan Graham are amongst those nursing differnet injuries that they are battling to overcome.
Rose added: "We have more than our share of injuries, as we did last season, but like any other club we just have to get on with it."

And finally, in today's weekend issue of the 'South London Press', the talk is of the changes to the squad:

GAV IS PUTTING FAITH IN YOUTH

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose promised last week to wield the axe on the Champion Hill side's floundering flops and has stuck to his guns with immediate effect.
Stiker Laurent Hamici's arrival was heralded this summer, but his departure to Cray Wanderers is one of a number of exits since the weekend-and Rose says there will be more.
He has turned to youth until he can bring in the senior players that fit the bill. Academy graduate Shawn McCoulsky was handed a full debut up front in Tuesday's 3-0 Ryman League Premier Division victory over VCD Athletic, with a further three teenagers being unleashed from the bench.
Dean McDonald gave Hamlet a first-half lead that was added to by second-half strikes from Lewis Gonsalves and Ibrahim Mansaray.
"We have introduced a lot of young lads and only had one experienced player on the bench," Rose said. "We will continue to bring through young players who are hungry until we can get more senior lads in who will apply themselves how we want them to. We've released a few this week and that won't be the end of it-but we have a big injury list at the moment so we have to be aware of numbers for the time being. We finished the game on Tuesday with Terrell Forbes by far the most senior player, and the young lads did themselves no harm."
Rose is cautious about unleashing his youth players too soon however, knowing he needs a few more experienced heads around them.
"We don't want to be asking too much of them yet," he said. "We got away with it against VCD Athletic but we won't get away with it for the rest of the season. We need to bring them in at the right time. There needs to be a balance between developing them and moving the club forward. In the short term, more of them will be playing until we find senior players who deserve to wear the shirt. We've been working for years with the academy and we have some excellent young talent. They've been able to step up mentally but wewon't use them too much toosoon."
Rose was impressed with McCoulsky's first start for the senior side. The 17-year-old was involved in two of Dulwich's goals and nearly scored himself on a couple of occasions.
"He is a centre-forward but can also play on the right wing," explained Rose. "He is athletic so he can pit his wits against senior footballers. He has the right temperament for the first team already. He wants to work hard and doesn't get ahead of himself."
Dulwich's midweek win ended a run of five matches without victory, including last weekend's FA Cup reverse to Worthing. Rose believes Tuesday's three points were the result of a kick up the backside for the squad after seeing senior players let go.
"We were in terrible form for the standards we have set at the club," he said. "We had to release a few for people to realise the standard we want. We knew we might not hit the ground running but we managed good results early on but not good performances, and that caught up with us. We wanted a reaction this week and we got it. I hope that continues. The young players know there is an opprtunity for them to get into the first team and beyond, and we are looking for the next one who can come through and stake a claim."
Dulwich's season continues tomorrow with a home fixture against Hornchurch. The visitors made it to the play-off final last season but are currently stuck in the relegation zone with just one win in 10 games.
"They will be desperate to get themselves out of that situation, so they will be dangerous," Rose said. "As for ourselves, we need to get back on a winning run. Whoever we play against the performances have to be of a high standard because we haven't seen enough of that so far."