The newspaper round up

Here's what's been in the printed media over the last week...

Last Sunday, in the 'Non League Paper', came the report from our home defeat against Needham Market:

Needham Market made it 16 points out of 18 after Jay Davies' header gave them a smash and grab victory at league leaders Dulwich.
Hamlet had most of the play but were continually frustrated by the Marketmen's resolute defending.
Ashley Carew's 18th minute drive drew a good save from the visitors' keeper Danny Gay who later denied Albert Jarrett.
Then an inviting cross from Rhys Murrell-Williamson flashed across the goalmouth with no-one on hand to finish.
The second half followed a similar pattern with Needham restricted to breakaways, but from one such break on 59 minutes they grabbed the winner.
An angled shot from Jordan Patrick was deflected over Hamlet keeper Phil Wilson and Davies nodded home at the far post.
Ollie Mann went close for the Marketmen moments later, but it was mostly one-way traffic towards the visitors' goal.
Ethan Pinnock had a header cleared off the line and Murrell-Williamson missed a couple of good chances.
When a superb 30-yarder from Carew crashed against the underside of the bar and bounced out it was obviously not going to be Dulwich's day.
STAR MAN:(Ian Miller (Needham Market)
Entertainment: *** (out of five)

Two days later the midweek 'South London Press' also ran with that defeat:

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose felt his side missed a trick on Saturday as their 1-0 home defeat to Needham Market meant they failed to take advantage of their rivals dropping points.
The visitors defended resolutely at Champion Hill before scoring a rebound through Jay Davies to nick all three points.
The South Londoners have lost two of their last three Ryman League Premier Division matches, which has seen their title challenge stutter slightly-almost all their rivals have games in hand and just nine points separate the teams in the top half.
But of the chasing pack, only Kingstonian, Billericay Town, Hampton & Richmond Borough and East Thurrock United won. Tonbridge Angels, Wingate & Finchley, Leiston, Canvey Island and Grays Athletic al lost, while Bognor Regis Town were held to a draw.
!We look at it as an opportunity missed," Rose said. "But it could have been worse. It goes to show how difficult this league is. We are not worried about a couple of defeats. No-one is going through this season as the outstanding team. We've created enough chances in the games we've lost recently so things might have been different. We were always attacking on Saturday and would have won the game comfortably on another day. They [Needham] rode their luck."
Rose also revealed that Jacob Erskine has been given an extended break to get over a niggling hamstring injury. The striker is suffering his third spell on the sidelines this season with the same problem. He has six goals in 17 games.
"He really needs to get himself fit," Rose said. "He is breaking down every two weeks so he is having a long rest. It's up to him to get back into peak condition and into the team. He needs to hit the ground running because we are expecting big things from him."

On Thursday, in the weekly 'Southwark News' Gavin was also in an upbeat mood after that loss:

Hamlet boss Gavin Rose believes the best is yet to come from his team despite the fact the Pink and Blues are setting the pace in the Ryman Premier League.
Dulwich lead the way in the table despite a surprise 1-0 defeat at Champion Hill last Saturday when a Jay Davies second half effort secured three points for lowly Needham Market.
The congested nature of the league, five points separated Hamlet and ninth place Canvey Island after Saturday's fixtures, means many sides will fancy going up in the sole automatic promotion spot if they can pull off a consistently strong series of results.
The Champion Hill side have been the epitome of inconsistency recently by pulling off impressive wins against Bognor Regis Town and Conference South side Margate only to follow those up with reverses against Harrow Borough and Needham Market.
Rose told the News: We still have our best form to come in terms of results. We had enough chances to win against Needham but our finishing and decision making meant we didn't. There was not much more I could ask in terms of mentality on Saturday but our finishing was not good enough." He added: "This season the league is not what it was in previous years in that I don't think anybody is showing they will run away with things. Everybody is making mistakes and things are much tighter. Maybe as the season goes on one or two clubs might pull away but there is not much sign of that happening right now. Because of that we are not as concerned about the points we have dropped so far but that is not to say it doesn't bother us and we are always looking at improving things."
On Saturday Hamlet are back in FA Trophy action against Bury Town, who were relegated from the Ryman Premier League last season, after Dulwich overcame higher level opposition in the shape of Margate last time out in the competition.
The Pink and Blues boss said: "When we work hard and our attitude is right we are a match for most teams in and around our level as we showed against Margate in the last round. We will be showing Bury the same respect we showed Margate. We will look at what team to put out after our training sessions this week. We will put out a strong team but we are always conscious we want to give players a game who have not had playing time recently."

And, finally, to Fridays weekend copy of the 'South London Press'. They had a big feature on fans' favourite Dean McDonald:

Dean McDonald is determined to make up for lost time at Champion Hill.
The striker joined Dulwich Hamlet at the start of last season but an injury-disrupted campaign meant his contract was not renewed in the summer.
But he got himself fit again and convinced boss Gavin Rose to sign him up once more.
Most of his early appearances were from the bench but he is getting more game time now and is keen to make his mark in Rose's side.
"I had a few problems with my hamstring and that messed up my season," he said. "I missed too many games. I needed to have a break from football and give it a proper rest before getting myself right again. I did extra training outside of football and got myself a personal trainer. I put in the hard work to get back fit. Hopefully I can stay that way and reap the rewards. The club showed me great support. The manager told me the door was still open for me but I had to show I could stay fit and show good form."
The 29-year-old former pro netted late on in a cup game against Harrow Borough at the end of October and went on to score five goals in four games. One of those came as part of a brace in the London Senior Cup. He controlled an Ashley Carew pass with the outside of his foot and juggled the ball on his way towards the goal before finding the corner.
"I felt better than I have in the past two years and that came across on the pitch," he said. "I was scoring, working hard, enjoying playing with my team-mates and, most importantly, winning. That goal against Erith came from a lovely ball from Ash. I did a couple of keep-ups and then shot into the corner. I was really pleased with that. I was happy with two goals that night but disappointed at missing a penalty. We got another but I couldn't put it right because Ash was on the pitch by then and he is the penalty taker."
Ipswich Town gave McDonald his first pro-contract but Harltepool handed him his pro debut during a loan spell. He went on to play for Gillingham and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
In the last seven seasons, he has played for 12 clubs in non-league - including a loan spell at Tooting & Mitcham United in 2009 that saw him net six goals in 10 appearances. He now hopes to establish himself at Champion Hill in the long term, and be the out-and-out number nine Rose craves.
His competition for a place comes in the form of recent signing Ryan Moss and the injured Jacob Erskine.
"Calum Willock did a great job when he was here too," he said. "There is plenty of competition. We can only do the best we can as individuals and leave the decision to the manager. It's great to keep the standard high. I would say I am quite versatile. I can hold the ball up, link the play, win headers, create chances and score goals. I'm confident in my ability that if I'm given the opportunity I'll score on a regular basis. I just need to get into a rhythm. When I get the shirt I want to keep it."
McDonald believes Dulwich are good enough to win the Ryman League Premier Division title. "We came close to promotion last year," he said. "The manager brought in more experience and hopefully that extra know-how will help us avoid blips like last season, when we only won twice in two months towards the end. We've not had a win in the league since the Bognor game three weeks ago and had a couple of disappointing losses. It's really tight at the top, so we need to revert back to the things we were doing well. We didn't play badly as a team in those losses but we didn't have a cutting edge in the final third."
Dulwich visit Bury Town in the first round proper of the FA Trophy tomorrow. Osei Sankofa was withdrawn in the first half of the 1-0 defeat to Needham Marker last Saturday with a thigh strain and is out.
But he should be back for the vital league clash at home to Leiston on Tuesday.

On the same page of the 'South London Press' there was another article on a now-departed player, which shows how quickly things can change in football!

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose is pleased with the recent attitude shown by Dan Sweeney but says his recent performances could be better.
Rose revealed three weeks ago that he was fining the much-coveted attacking midfielder after he spent a second week training with Championship side Reading without permission.
While Rose is encouraged by the fact Sweeney has not kicked up a fuss, he is worried that distractions concerning his future might be affecting his-and therefore Dulwich's-fortunes.
"Dan has got a great attitude and is a credit to himself," Rose said. "He is at the point now where he is being touted around but we are just worrying about performances. Maybe there is too much noise and not enough concentration on what he is doing on the field. There was no press around him, then he got six in six and immediately agents were jumping on the bandwagon. He's probably only had one good game since against Bognor [Dulwich won that top-of-the-table clash 3-2]. He's not really hit the heights he set when he first arrived. We just need to let him knuckle down and do a job for the club-less talk about where he might go and more good performances for Dulwich Hamlet. The supporters want to see players doing well before talking about what might happen afterwards. If he does well for us it gives him a better chance when it comes to impressing."