All the news from our two local newspapers from the last week

Our new signing, and the match last wekeend at Harrow Borough, headlined the non-league column in last Tuesday's midweek edition of the 'South London Press':

Hamlet land Marcel but can't silence Harrow

Dulwich Hamlet signed striker Marcel-Henry Francis in time for last weekend.
But the former Birmingham and QPR hitman could not stop Gavin Rose's side losing ground on the Ryman League Premier Division leaders with a second defeat in a row, this time 3-1 at Harrow Borough. The defeat follows a 3-2 loss to Hornchurch the previous weekend. Injury-ravaged Hamlet had Paul Idem in goal instead of first choice Phil Wilson and dominated the early exchanges, taking the lead when Ellis green delivered an inch-perfect cross that Erhun Oztumer headed on goal. Harrow keeper Alex Tokarczyk could only parry the ball into the air and Nyren clunis rose highest to head the rebound home. But Shaun Lucien smashed a rebound past Idem to level just beofre half-time. Then a deflection on ordan Berry's shot meant it looped over the helpless Idem. Rose introduced Henry-Francis shortly after, and he foreced a good save from Tokarczyk at his near post. But Hamlet's day was summed up when the hosts got a third goal three minutes into stoppage time when Marcel Barrington converted a low cross. Hamlet travel to Thamesmead Town tomorrow for their next league match.

On Thursday the weekly 'Southwark News' led with the signing of Marcel too:

Rose hopes he has a new Carr

Hamlet boss Gavin Rose hopes his new striker will bag the goals for Dulwich like Daniel Carr did last campaign, and he feels Marcel Henry-Dennis has similar attributes to the Huddersfield front man.

Carr bagged 25 goals for Dulwich in their championship winning campaign before being snapped up by Championship side Huddersfield Town.

With Carr off the scene and this season's front men Paul Vines, left the club, and Harry Ottaway, broken leg, now indisposed Henry-Francis has come in to fill that void.

Rose said: "It's pretty obvious why we brought Marcel in, we are quite short of forwards. He has come out of the professional game at the end of last season and he was recommended to me so we have brought him in."

He added: "He is a powerful lad with a bit of individual skill and has an eye for goal. He is similar in some respects to Daniel Carr. He is not Daniel Carr but he is of a similar style if we can get him right."

Another teenager, Paul Idem, made an appearance in goal on Saturday, in the 3-1 defeat against Harrow Borough, after first team stopper Phil Wilson has to miss the match due to personal commitments.

Rose told the News; "I thought Paul did alright. He will look at the second goal and maybe he didn't adjust to the flight of the deflected shot as well as he would like, but for the other goals he didn't have a chance. He talked well during the game and made a couple of other good saves so overall he did quite well."

The Hamlet gaffer hopes that henry-Francis, nineteen, will help to convert chances that are currently being missed by his side. But he is keen that everyone does their bit.

Rose said: "If you look at the season overall I think many Dulwich fans would have taken this position in the league right now if you offered it to them at the start of the season. As a manager I don't look at it like that and keep working to correct the recent issues of not taking our chances. If we were full-time you would bring players in and concentrate on repetition exercises. But we have to look at players mental attitude a bit more. We look at what they are thinking in that situation and help them be more positive."

Our new striker again made the headline in yesterday's weekend edition of the 'South London Press':

Marcel will succeed if he wants it enough

Marcel Henry-Francis scored twice for Dulwich Hamlet in their 3-1 win at Thamesmead Town on Wednesday night.
The 19-year-old was released by Birmingham in the summer and had been weighing up his options before joining the Ryman Premier Division side last week. and Hamlet boss Gavin Rose says whether Henry-Francis succeeds will be down to if he is willing to work for the team. he could build up his game time tomorrow when Dulwich host Shoreham in the FA Cup.
"We will have to ease him in to get his fitness levels up to where he needs to be," said Rose. "He is a big strong lad-he can play with his back to goal but also run in behind. He also has some tricks and an eye for goal. He has all the makings of a good player for us. But it is very early days. He is still young. There is no miracle-working by us. It is 100 per cent down to whether the individual is willing to work for the team-how much he wants to get back into the game or get into it in the first place. We want players with that ambition. Marcel is here to help himself but also to help me and the team. and if he does not do that, we are wasting our time."
Mathieu Boyer also scored in midweek, heading in after Erhun Oztumer's free-kick crashed back off the crossbar.
Dulwich are sixth in the table.