Staines Town 1-3 Dulwich Hamlet

Dulwich eventually saw off out-of-form Staines Town, although they made heavy weather of it in the second half having totally dominated proceedings.

With Ethan Pinnock, Danny Waldren and Jordan Brown all still unavailable because of injury, it was a welcome sight to see Matt Drage overcome his injury from Saturday to start.

Dean McDonald & Ryan Moss dropped to the bench with Jacob Erskine & Rhys Murrell-Williamson coming into the side.

Staines pushed forward early on and Brewer had a free kick that failed to trouble Phil Wilson. Dulwich had a good chance to take the lead in the 6th minute with Rhys Murrell-Williamson running at the home defence and a tackle on him then diverted the ball to Nyren Clunis who shot wide on the turn.

A minute later Dulwich should have been in front. Damian Scannell picked up the ball wide on the right and drifted past all challengers. However, he put his left footed effort just wide of the post.

Dulwich were now dominant and it seemed just a matter of when they would score. Murrell-Williamson played a beautifully weighted pass to Scannell who cut the ball back from the left touchline. However, Jacob Erskine had run to the near post and the ball passed behind him.

Nyren Clunis did well to get goal side of his man chasing a long ball but missed his kick and an Ashley Carew free kick was scrambled away, whilst Erskine had a long range effort just too high.

The Hamlet finally took the lead in the 26th minute when Murrell-Williamson let fly from 25 yards and the ball took a wicked deflection off a defender to beat Jack Turner in the home goal low to his right.

Two minutes later the lead was doubled. Good play on the Dulwich left saw Murrell-Williamson brought down from behind by Felix as he accelerated towards goal. The referee pointed to the spot but chose not to take any further action against the defender who had already been booked. Ashley Carew stepped up and sent Turner the wrong way with his penalty.

Murrell-Williamson had a 28th minute effort that had Turner beaten but was inches over the bar as Dulwich looked for a third. Mitchell Nelson put the ball across the six yard box but nobody got on the end of it and Erskine fired wide from no more than a couple of yards out after a Damian Scannell cross.

Staines were restricted to a few free kicks and shots from distance and failed to test Phil Wilson at all throughout the half.

Half Time 0-2

Having looked in total control, Dulwich then gave away a soft goal three minutes after the break. Nyren Clunis was caught in possession ten yards inside the Staines half, the ball was then played up to Cox who flicked it on to Michael Campbell running clear on goal and he advanced unchallenged to easily beat Phil Wilson.

Dulwich were struggling for any rhythm and regularly gave the ball away as Staines increased in belief. Another long ball over the top saw Campbell go clear again but this time Wilson thwarted him.

The home side pressed hard but were unable to create anything clear cut and with their substitutions Dulwich were able to begin to regain some control, particularly after the introduction of Ryan Moss. Almost immediately following his 73rd minute introduction he was put through on goal by the industrious Jack Dixon but his effort was just wide.

Damian Scannell then forced a good save from Turner and Moss following up was only able to clip the ball to the far post, where it was cleared.

Dulwich finally got the clinching third goal with 6 minutes remaining. Damian Scannell was fouled 20 yards out and to the right of the goal. Ashley Carew delivered a free kick into the penalty area where Ryan Moss got in front of his marker to place a diving header past Turner and secure the 3 points.

Final Score 1-3

Photo copyright: Duncan Palmer Photography