The papers from the last fortnight

Here's all the recent Dulwich Hamlet news from the local and specialist non-league press

It’s been a while since we’ve shared with you the local & non-league coverage for The Hamlet. Here we play ‘catch up’

Going back just over a fortnight, to Sunday 6th March, the ‘Non League Paper’ reported on our draw at Wingate & Finchley:

Dulwich’s stuttering form continued as they had to come from a goal down to snatch a point at mid-table Wingate.
The hosts led nine minutes after the break from the penalty spot but Hamlet hauled them back nine minutes later.
Wingate had the first real chance of the game when a fine move set up Billy Healey whose header was well saved by Hamlet keeper Preston Edwards.
Despite the hosts’ dominance, Dulwich almost took the lead after Dean McDonald’s powerful drive went inches wide.
Just after the restart, Ryan Moss arrowed an effort wide from inside the area.
But on 54 minutes Alex Addai made a bombarding run into the box and was dragged down, Fisher converting the resultant penalty.
Dulwich grabbed a well-taken equaliser after 63 minutes. Ryan Moss’s low cross found McDonald, who skilfully flicked the ball past Aron Pollock before finding the far bottom corner.
Nyren Clunis then forced a fine stop from Wingate keeper Chris Haigh before Addai’s dangerous cross just evaded Healey.
STAR MAN: Ahmet Rifat (Wingate & Finchley)
ENTERTAINMENT: **** (out of a possible five)

There was also a feature, which we have already covered, on our FC Assyria match, which you can see again by CLICKING HERE.

On the Tuesday the non-league column in the ‘South London Press’ also concentrated on our dropping of more points:

Dulwich Hamlet’s hopes of automatic promotion from the Ryman Premier Division took another knock with a 1-1 draw at mid-table Wingate & Finchley on Saturday.
The result leaves the South Londoners 11 points behind leaders East Thurrock United, who have played two games more.
Leon Fisher’s penalty put the hosts ahead in the 54th minute after Gus Sow’s clumsy challenge.
Dulwich were back on terms just nine minutes later. Ryan Moss’ persistence paid off as he chased a diagonal ball and found Dean McDonald, who finished sweetly.
Hamlet go to Billericay on Saturday.

Two days later, in the weekly ‘Southwark News’, there a bit more ‘positive spin’ in their headline:

A second half goal from striker Dean McDonald ensured Dulwich came away with a point last Saturday in their league encounter with Wingate & Finchley.
The striker was on the end on a Ryan Moss centre on 63 minutes that cancelled out a Leon Fisher penalty nine minutes earlier.
The 1-1 draw extended Hamlet’s winless league run to five games, a stuttering run of form that has seen them go from contenders for top spot to scrapping to ensure they make the end of season play-offs. After Saturday’s games Dulwich were fourth in the Ryman Premier League but they had a number of teams snapping at their heels, looking for one of four play-off spots, seeking to leave Hamlet with no shot at promotion.
Recco Hackett-Fairchild has joined Hamlet on loan from League Two side Dagenham and Redbridge and the young winger made his debut late on in the Wingate game at the weekend.
The Pink and Blues are on their travels again this Saturday, this time in Essex, where they will take on Billericay Town.
The Essex side are just outside the play-off places and three points for Hamlet would help them begin get their season on track. Wingate & Finchley then play Hamlet again on Tuesday evening, this time at Champion Hill, in another Ryman Premier League encounter.

Despite our dismal run of the form manager Gavin Rose was trying to spread a positive message in the following day’s weekend edition of the ‘South London Press’:

Gavin Rose is refusing to give up on the title race despite a fifth Ryman Premier League game without a win causing Dulwich Hamlet to lose further ground on the leaders.
The South Londoners drew 1-1 with Wingate & Finchley on Saturday, which left them 13 points behind leaders Hampton & Richmond - but with two games in hand.
Rose admits it will be a huge ask to claw the gap back and go up as
champions but he is not giving in yet.
“Mathematically it’s a very tall order but none of the teams in the league have been brilliant for a sustained period,” he said.
“Unfortunately the teams at the top are coming into form at the right time for them. But it still leaves me with a little bit of hope. The race is not over yet. It’s all about what we can do now to give ourselves a fighting chance and hope other teams slip up. We believe they will.”
Another big game looms tomorrow as Dulwich visit Billericay Town, who are also hopeful of claiming a play-off place, which could be at the
expense of Hamlet if their form doesn’t improve.
But Rose doesn’t see the game as a last chance for the Champion Hill side to keep themselves in the race.
“Not at all,” he said. “Over the years we’ve come to realise you can’t write yourself off too early. There are 30 points to play for. Sometimes your mindset alone can dictate if you get there. We don’t think the result on Saturday will be definitive just yet, whether it is a good or bad result.”
Dulwich have sent striker Jacob Erskine to Ryman League Division One North side Cray Wanderers on a month-long deal in a bid to boost his fitness.
Erskine was a summer signing and looked promising with seven goals in the first half of the season. But he has been plagued by hamstring problems and has had very little game time in the last few months.
“It’s quite obvious that he hasn’t played the majority of the season,” Rose said. “He has struggled with injury and fitness. He has gone to Cray Wanderers to get some games under his belt and hopefully a few goals to get back in the groove in case we need him before the end of the season. His fitness is out of our hands. There is not much more we can do to solve his problems - that will have to be his responsibility.
“Hopefully we can get him fit and firing because I still believe he can have a big future with us because he is a goalscorer.”
Rose has also boosted Dulwich’s ranks with the youth loan of 17-year-old forward Reece Hackett-Fairchild from Dagenham
& Redbridge. He made his debut as an 89th-minute substitute in Saturday’s draw.
“He has shown a bit of promise over there and they wanted him to go out and get some experience at senior level, both in games and training ready for next season,” said Rose. “He has trained with us before and done really well and we are happy to have him back. We are not obligated to play him - it’s not an agreement in the loan deal. He is just like any other player in terms of the fact that it’s up to him to force his way into the team. If he deserves to play, he’ll play.”
Dean McDonald scored the equaliser just after the hour against Wingate & Finchley to cancel out Leon Fisher’s 54th minute penalty on Saturday.
Rose felt Dulwich once again suffered from not taking one of their many chances. “We missed a host of good opportunities in the first half without playing brilliantly,” he said. “We got in and around their box a lot so we are disappointed we didn’t take advantage. They counter-attacked in the second half and went at the heart of our defence. We defended poorly and could have prevented the penalty. We were always in the ascendancy without being fantastic. We scored a good goal through Dean but as the game went on we didn’t capitalise.”
Defenders Ethan Pinnock (groin) and Jordan Brown (dead leg) returned to training this week and have a chance of being involved tomorrow.

Sadly, we suffered a heavy defeat at Billericay, and it was the featured Ryman Premier match in the ‘Non League Paper’:

Jordan Cox was the hat-trick hero as Billericay leapfrogged faltering play-off rivals Dulwich, cruising past the South Londoners despite shipping an early goal.
The Blues put some scratchy form behind them to overwhelm a Hamlet side who finished with ten men after skipper Danny Waldren saw red for frustration induced red.
And Billericay manager Craig Edwards waxed lyrical about his striker.
Edwards told the NLP: “I was pleased for him as he had come in for some stick from some of the supporters on Tuesday night, which I didn’t feel was deserved. He’s come back with a hat-trick and the reaction of the supporters when I took him off was pleasing. He can be a big player for us over the rest of the season.”
The first half was notable for two soft penalties, the first two of three in the match.
On four minutes, Dulwich were first to benefit when Ryan Moss went down in the box and Ashley Carew beat Blues keeper Jack Giddens, although the Billericay keeper dived the right way.
The lead lasted 11 minutes. The impressive Tom Derry broke clear of the Dulwich back four before squaring to Cox to sweep home the equaliser.
Billericay were then on the receiving end of the referee’s largesse, as he awarded a penalty, judging Teddy Nesbitt to have been fouled by Jordan Hibbert, Glenn Poole netted from the spot.
Dulwich thought they had scored an equaliser just before the half-time whistle when Jack Dixon headed in a corner, but the referee’s assistant flagged for a push before the ball hit the net.
After half-time, Cox’s flick found Derry whose header drew a tumbling save from Hamlet keeper Preston Edawards.
The hosts then won a second penalty when the unfortunate Hibbert handled the ball in the box.
It was all too much for Waldren who vented his frustration at the referee with such vehemence that he was shown a red card.
With Poole having gone off injured, Cox stepped up to score from the spot.
Cox then completed his hat-trick just after the hour, when he held off Mitchell Nelson before squeezing his shot past Edwards.
Despite the win the Blues boss complained: “Having done all the right things to get to 4-1, we stopped doing them. I want us to be more ruthless.”
But he added: “We’ve now lost once in twenty game. If, and it’s a big if, we can go unbeaten for the remaining eight games, we would have to be very unlucky not to finish in the play-offs.”
STAR MAN: Jordan Cox (Billericay Town)
ENTERTAINMENT: **** (out of a possible five stars)

There was also a news story in the same issue of the ‘Non League Paper’, covering the FC Assyria refugee awareness match, which we have already shared, but you can read again by CLICKING HERE

Last Tuesday the midweek ‘South London Press’ led on the penalty awards in the Billericay match:

A crucial penalty decision in the 53rd minute led to a sixth Dulwich Hamlet game without a win and damaged their hopes of reaching the play-offs.
They were beaten 4-1 at Billericay, whose striker Jordan Cox hit three of the goals, one from the spot.
Decisively, in the 53rd minute, John Hibbert handled in the ara after the ball reared up from a Preston Edwards save.
And skipper Danny Waldren’s angry protests led to him being sent off.
It was the third spot-kick decision of the game, after Hamlet had taken the lead in just the sixth minute. Ashley Carew converted the first penalty following a push on Ryan Moss by home skipper George Bevan.
Billericay levelled through Cox in the 15th minute and went ahead after Glenn Poole slammed home their first penalty to make the score 2-1 at half-time.
The referee indicated a goal when Waldren turned home a Carew corner, but his assistant raised his flag and it was chalked off.
The decisive penalty came soon after the break and Cox completed his hat-trick later on.
Dulwich host Wingate & Finchley tonight.

And so onto Thursday’s weekly ‘Southwark News’ again, this time the most recent issue. The headline highlighted our poor run of form:

Dulwich Hamlet dropped out of the Ryman Premier Division play-off spots this week as their dismal run of league form continued with a defeat at Billericay last Saturday.
That 4-1 loss in Essex saw the home side leapfrog Dulwich in the table and Kingstonian’s 4-0 win on Monday night against Brentwood Town saw Hamlet slip to sixth in the league.
Their poor form in 2016 has seen the Champion Hill side slip from top spot at Christmas to sixth this week, a distant sixteen points behind leaders Hampton & Richmond after Monday’s games.
At the weekend Dulwich got off to the best possible start when Ashley Carew gave them a sixth minute lead, converting a penalty awarded after Ryan Moss was fouled in the box. But that lead only lasted seven minutes before Jordan Cox levelled things up.
By the time the half-time whistle was blown Hamlet were a goal behind thanks to a Glenn Poole spot kick.
The exit of the Pink and Blues midfielder Danny Waldren, after protesting the award of another penalty, proved decisive especially when Cox then netted from twelve yards.
The Billericay man bagged his hat-trick ten minutes later to round off the scoring for the day and put another nail in Hamlet’s promotion hopes. On Tuesday night Dulwich finally got back to winning ways, and moved back in the play-off spots, when they defeated Wingate and Finchley.
First half goals from Dean McDonald and Carew put Hamlet in the ascendency, and although Aron Pollock pulled a goal back for the visitors after the break Dulwich held on for three much needed points.
This Saturday Dulwich entertain Burgess Hill Town at Champion Hill in a Ryman Premier League encounter that kicks off at 3pm. Then next Tuesday Hamlet travel to local rivals Tooting and Mitcham for a London County Cup semi-final clash. That game starts at 7.45pm.

There was also an extremely positive mention of Dulwich Hamlet in the main editorial column of the same ‘Southwark News’, which we shared with you in a separate article yesterday. In case you missed it you can read it by CLICKING HERE.

To complete our little backlog of the news round-up, we look at the ‘South London Press’ last Friday, with a last a bit more of a positive headline to share:

Hamlet are back in the hunt

Dulwich revived their hopes of taking part in the Ryman League Premier Division play-offs in May with a 2-1 victory over Wingate & Finchley on Tuesday.
Gavin Rose’s side host mid-table Burgess Hill Town tomorrow and will hope the momentum has swung back their way.
With seven games to go, they can wait for East Thurrock United to slip up, but they must watch out for Billericay, Leiston and even Bognor Regis Town,who have six games in hand on them.
Dulwich took the lead in the 18th minute against Wingate & Finchley.
Poor defending from the visitors who failed to clear a corner saw the ball land at the feet of Dean McDonald who buried his effort from 10 yards.
Four minutes later Dulwich doubled their lead. Nyren Clunis was brought down 30 yards out and Ashley Carew stepped up to strike a venomous shot over the wall that beat the keeper low to his left.
The visitors struck back four minutes into the second half when Preston Edwards produced a fantastic save from a header following a corner but, with the Dulwich defence static, Aron Pollock volleyed the rebound home.