Dulwich Hamlet booked their place in the final of the Geoff Harvey Memorial Vase against at Corinthian-Casuals tomorrow after a second half fight back

It was a strangely sluggish opening to this game between Premier Division rivals with few in the way of clear-cut chances falling the way of either the Hamlet or the Robins. Nearly 25 minutes had passed before either keeper was forced into a save of note with Carshalton’s Michael McEntgart produced a noteworthy effort to batter out a low drive from Erhun Oztumer after determined work from Nyren Clunis on the by-line. That might have been for nothing though had either Connor French or Gabriel Oduniake been able to polish off the rebound, the former inches away from as killer touch, the latter denied as Quincy Rowe dived into to hook the ball off his opponent’s toes as he shaped to shoot.

Three minutes before the break, and in stark contrast to the flow of play before, slipshod defending gifted the Robins the afternoon’s opening goal, Marc Anthony-Okoye disposed as he tried to dribble the ball out of the box and Julien Owusu making no mistake as he advanced to drill the past low past Paul Idem into the far corner of the net.

The half-time hairdryer gave Hamlet food for thought and Dulwich were in determined mood as the second half swung into gear, levelling then taking the lead, almost losing it again in two manic minutes that perhaps decided the destiny of the match. Drifting in from the left, Ellis Green’s magic feet mesmerised the Carshalton defence who evaporated like cold beer on summer’s day, the Dulwich wingman made space for wicked shot that swirled away from McEntgart’s desperate dive. Barely sixty seconds had flashed by before the Robins’ keeper was picking the ball out of net again. Almost straight from the kick-off Connor French provided the telling delivery and Gabriel Oduniake kept chasing, the keeper's block proving ineffectual and the ball dribbled under him Oduniake rushed on to poke the ball home over the line.

Carshalton should have equalised instantaneously afterwards as Dulwich dozed at the restart, Owusu sent through one on one with Idem but was to watch on in agony as his clipped shot was valiantly battered away by the advancing Dulwich custodian.

However, that was pretty much the last of the Robins as Dulwich's substitutions had the desired effect. Kershaney Samuels, on for Clunis at right back, was smothered out after a powerful run into the box but on 76 minutes his fellow replacement, Junior James, chased a deep cross ball to the back of the box, harrying the keeper into fumbled the ball wide to the left of his goal before pulling the ball back into the path of Dean Lodge. Dinking across the face of the box Lodge eyed up the openings before cutting the ball back across the path of covering defenders and into the net.

Dulwich now face our old friends and foes from Kingstonian in Sunday’s final after the Ks overturned a similar single goal halftime deficit against the hosting Corinthian-Casuals, winning 3-1. Kick-off is at 3.00 pm

Dulwich Hamlet Team: Paul Idem - Nyren Clunis, Marc Anthony, Lewis Gonsalves, Ahmed Deen - Billy Crook, Mathieu Boyer, Erhun Oztumer - Ellis Green, Connor French, Gabriel Oduniake

Subs used: Dean Lodge (for French), Kershaney Samuels (for Clunis), Kevin James (for Boyer), Junior James (for Oduniake), Nassim Dukali (for Green)