In a game of two halves, Dulwich edged this basement battle to move out of the drop zone.

In what was very much a game of two halves, all five goals came in the second stanza as Dulwich Hamlet edged to a narrow 3-2 win and picked up a vital three points in this early season basement battle.

At a near sold-out Champion Hill, 3,191 fans witnessed a forgettable first half. During the opening 45 minutes there were just two shots on target and both were for the away team. Calling them shots on target is generous, as both efforts came from outside the box and picked up deflections on their way to the goal meaning neither keeper was forced into a save during the first half.

As fans filed away to the bars and food outlets during the break, they can have been forgiven for wondering if they had anywhere else to be, but those caught in the half-time queues would’ve missed the opening goal.

A Danny Mills header just forty seconds after the restart gave Dulwich the lead, with half-time substitute Anthony Jeffrey making an instant impact by laying on the goal. It was Dulwich’s first effort on target. It was a typical Mills goal, Jeffrey crossed from the left to the back post and Mills rose above his maker and powered a headed past Rob Tolfrey in the Kingstonian goal.

Jeffrey was one of two Hamlet half-time subs with Jeffrey and Ryley Scott coming on for Mark Ricketts and Sean Bonnett-Johnson. It was a bold attacking move by Hakan Hayrettin, and it wouldn’t take long for Dulwich to double their lead.

In the 55th minute, Jerome Binnom-Williams picked up the ball just inside the opposition have and strode forward. The left-back played a line-breaking pass to the feet of Mills on the edge of the box. The Hamlet number nine rolled his marker and found Akwo Ayuk. He showed neat footwork to dribble past his man before firing high and hard into the top right-hand corner.

Hamlet’s third arrived in the 67th minute. The away side failed to clear a Binnom-Williams corner and Luke Wanadio reacted quickest. He first won a header on the edge of the box and collected it himself. He took one touch to steady himself before firing hard and low. It arrowed away from the despairing dive of Tolfrey and found the side netting by the left-hand post. It was a sumptuous strike and gave Dulwich what would surely be an unassailable lead.

Kingstonian were down but not out. At 2-0 their top scorer Eddie Dsane had missed a guilt edged chance, firing wide when clean through, although credit must go to Will Lakin for closing the angle. In the 73rd minute, they would grab one back with Mark Waters arrowing a low shot past Lakin, who dived to his left but couldn’t keep it out. One goal can change a game and it was Kingstonian who were now on top. Tom Collins, who had come on for Dsane, lobbed Lakin, but his shot hit the bar and bounced over. Just a minute later Collins had another good chance but could only drag his shot wide.

Dulwich were looking edgy and nervy and in the 90th minute the fans were feeling that way too as Kingstonian reduced the deficit to one. From a free-kick on the right-hand side Niran Butler was left unmarked and he headed home from just six-yards out.

Dulwich had five minutes of injury time to survive and they managed to hang on for a vital three points. The win lifts them out of the drop zone and up to sixteenth in the table. Thank you to our fans for your wonderful support, the men’s team are next in action on Saturday 21st of October when we travel to Whitehawk. The next home game is against Lewes in the FA Trophy 1st Round on October 28th.

Dulwich Hamlet Line-Up:

1 Will Lakin, 2 Miquel Scarlett, 4 Mark Ricketts (10 Anthony Jeffrey 46’), 5 Michael Chambers, 7 Luke Wanadio, 9 Danny Mills, 11 Akwo Ayuk, 12 Sean Bonnett-Johnson ( 8 Ryley Scott 46’), 15 Kreshnic Krasniqi, 18 Jerome Binnom-Williams, 20 Manny Parry

Unused Substitutes: 3 Momodou Jallow, 17 Adam Dougui, 19 Elliott Romain

Goalscorers: Mills 46', Ayuk 55’, Wanadio 67’

Yellow Cards: Wanadio 62’

Kingstonian Line-Up

1 Rob Tolfrey, 2 Zack Chislett, 3 Jude Mason, 4 Rudy Allen (12 Darnell Goather-Braithwaite 55’) 5 Matt Drage, 6 Niran Butler 7 Mark Waters, 8 Emmanuel Adebiyi, 9 Andy Somo, 10 Eddie Dsane (14 Tom Collins 62’), 11 Rio Campbell (15 Hakeem Adelakun 81’)

Goalscorers: Waters 73’, Butler 90’

Yellow Cards: Eddie Dsane 33’, Niran Butler 79’