It's been a while, so it's a 'double' report today, covering the last two weeks

Apologies for not copying & publishing them earlier. Our
Hamlet Pitchero team update this website in our own time, & sometimes do not find the hours after our own full time jobs to dedicate as much effort as we would like to getting news on here,but we do try to do so as much as we can.

Before we give you the latest round-ups, allow me to give you the answer to a question I'm sometimes asked...namely why do we bother re-writing pieces from our two local newspapers, when our fans can just buy them from their local newsagents?

Well the reason is...we like to keep our supporters informed, and some of our fans are not in the catchment area of either the 'South London Press' or the 'Southwark News', so we are providing a service for those outside the area.

Also there are fans who have moved away & no longer manage to get to matches, even though they still have a 'soft spot' for the Club. Or for followers who live abroad, & cannot get to matches at all. (Hello to some of our readers in Belgium, France, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Scotland,Wales & Germany...to name but a few!)

Then there are lifelong Hamlet fans who are not in the best of health, & cannot get out to matches, we like to keep them informed, & are their lifeline in all matters Dulwich.

Not forgetting that non-league fans in general might like to keep up with the news from Champion Hill.

It's all about providing a service, so that's why we do it.

Now we've got that out of the way, time to go back almost two weeks, to the 'South London Press' midweek edition of Tuesday 15th January, where we had just a brief mention in their non-league column:

Dulwich Hamlet won 2-0 at Folkestone Invicta as they remian top of the pile in Ryman Division One South. Striker Daniel Carr hit the woodwork twice before an own goal put the South Londoners ahead on 59 minutes. Erhun Oztumer settled the contenst with a goal after 71 minutes.

Two days later, on Thursday 17th, the weekly edition of the 'Southwark News' had a much more detailed report:

Dulwich dominate to complete double

Hamlet completed a league double over their hosts at the weekend and maintained their lead at the top of the Ryman League South for a few days.
In an utterly dominant performance, on a heavy pitch, the only surprise was that it took just short of an hour for Dulwich to establish the lead. The first half was a constant series of Hamlet attacks with Daniel Carr striking the woodwork twice, but good chances were spurned at regular intervals.
The second half opened with Folkestone coming more into the game and it needed a couple of smart stops from keeper Phil Wilson to keep the scores level. A slick passing move on 59 minutes saw the ball arrive at Kevin James whose drilled cross was turned home by Invicta defender Liam Friend sliding in to clear.
Erhun Oztumer blazed wide when it looked easier to scoresoon after but, as is now customary, he got his goal on 71 minutes. After being set free in the area Oztumer fired home despite the valiant efforts of the Invicta keeper Jack Delo.
The win saw Hamlet continue a rich vein of form that has seen them go unbeaten in all competitions since October 30.
That run continued on Tuesday evening when Dulwich beat Premier division outfit Wealdstone 1-0, in the League Cup, courtesy of a 49th minute strike from Ryan James.
Saturday's visitors to Champion Hill Maidstone united went top of the Ryman League South omn the same evening, overtaking Hamlet, after beating Burgess Hill Town 2-0.

There was also an article with a very positive tone from our manager:

We can still go up another level-Hamlet boss Rose

Hamlet gaffer Gavin Rose believes his league leading side can still step up another level as the race for promotion hots up in the Ryman League South.
The Champion Hill side picked up another valuable three points at the weekend away at Folkestone as they cemented top spot, after Saturday results, with victory on the coast.
Rose stated he was happy with the weekend outcome, but not with the manner of the win. He told the News: "It was a good result and we would have taken that before the game, but we were very wasteful. We had a lot of chances, and very good ones too, and we should have done the job in the first half of the game."
Rose added that he was happy with the work rate of his side and how they controlled the game but after a half-time chat he made it clear that his side needed to be more clinical in the final third. Despite sitting at the summit of the league Rose believes his side have the capability to up their game as the long rush-in begins.
He added: "I still think there is another level that we can hit. That is my goal to get us to play at that level until the end of the season. But beggars can't be choosers and we are doing very well at the moment and the team are enjoyable to watch and manage even though there is another level to hit."
With injured players slowly coming back Rose is hoping January is a quiet month and he can keep what he has for the rest of the campaign. "If we want to get one in we will have to ship one out, but we don't need to get rid of players at the minute."Rose said. "We would like to add to the squad but we just don't have the ability to do that now. I would like to keep what we have until the end of the year, and that is where I am at the moment."

The following day, Friday 18th January,prior to our match with Maidstone United suffering a late postponement, Gavin Rose spoke of a possible fixture pile-up, in the weekend edition of the 'South London Press' :

Fixture pile-up is a challenge for Rose

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose admits fixture congestion will prove a challenge if his side continue to progress in cup competitions.
Rose fielded a near-full-strength side as Dulwich saw off Ryman League Premier Division high-flyers Wealdstone 1-0 in the Isthmian League Cup fourth round on Tuesday, courtesy of a Ryan James strike early in the second half after they had dominated the first period.
A week earlier a much more youthful Hamlet 11 progressed to the fifth round of the London Senior Cup after beating Corinthian-Casuals 4-1.
Rose concedes he may have to start prioritising when it comes to team selection as the Hamlet battle for promotion from Ryman League Division One South.
"As far as problems go, it's not a bad one to have,"he said. "The younger lads have performed well so they will get further opportunities. They have shown me that I can trust the strength in depth of the squad. On Tuesday we had our youth team captain Xavier Vidal and youngster Josh Turner, who have both been in and out of the first team, but apart from that it was a very strong side out of respect to Wealdstone. Some of the subs were made with Maidstone in mind and that showed in the last 20 minutes. We are taking every game seriously, including the cups because we want to be competitive in every game. People pay their hard-earned money to watch us so they deserve to see us trying our best to progress."
Dulwich can go into tomorrow's top-of-the-table clash against Maidstone United with confidence, having gone 15 games unbeaten. Rose is also keen to settle a score after the Hamlet were on the wrong end of a 5-0 thumping when the two sides met earlier in the season. Despite the two teams' league positions, Rose is refusing to get wrapped up in any hype surrounding the fixture. "It is the biggest game of the season to date but I wouldn't envisage it being our biggest overall,"he said. "I'd imagine we'll have more valuable games towards the end of the season. Maidstone are obviously an excellent side. otherwise they would not be where they are. They have a good mix of experience and youth. We feel prepared for them but I am sure they are prepared for us too. since they beat us 5-0, we have only lost one game,which is a good benchmark in itself."
Tuesday's win over Wealdstone gave Rose even more belief in his team to compete with so-called bigger sides. "In the first half we competed very well and gave more than a good account of ourselves against a higher team,"he said. "We probably should have taken more chances and been out of sight by half-time.The lads are doing what I am asking of them and realise that this style of football suits them. We make it hard work for other teams and no matter who the opposition is, we think we can give them a problem."
Turner injured his ankle on Tuesday so is a doubt for tomorrow's fixture.

As we all know, the Maidstone United match was a victim of the snow & ice, as reported in the midweek 'South London Press' three days ago, On Tuesday:

Volunteers' efforts at Dulwich are in vain

Dulwich Hamlet chief executive Martin Eede praised the efforts of supporters in their attempts to enable last Saturday's to-of-the-table Ryman League Division One South clash with Maidstone United to go ahead-but unfortunately it was all in vain.
Up to 25 volunteers worked tirelessly at Champion Hill for almost six hours on Saturday morning to help ground staff get the pitch to what the club considered to be a playable condition. The pitch passed an inspection by a local non-match Isthmian referee earlier in the morning but the match referee had a different opinion-deeming a couple of areas on the pitch to be unplayable-and called the game off at 1.35pm.
Eede said everyone at the club was frustrated with the decision but conceded it was the right one, and lauded the help given by Dulwich supporters in the morning to clear snow from the pitch. "They made an absolutely fantastic effort to get the game on,"Eede said. "Up until about midday it was looking very promising. We got a snow plough in to help remove the sonw and large parts of the pitch were perfect. It was anticipated that the temperature would rise during the day but that didn't turn out to be the case and a few areas still had frost on them. We even got a hot air blower but when we took it off, the areas froze up again. Both teams were rightly concerned about the safety of their players and at the end of the day it was a sensible decision. Obviously it was a real shame after the wonderful efforts of the supporters-we are indebted to them. It was frustrating because it was a big game and despite trying our hardest, we couldn't quite pull it off."
Tonight's Isthmian League Cup match against Kingstonian is also in doubt and supporters are advised to check the club website for the latest information.
"If it's off we may see whether it's possible to move the game to the Wednesday if the weather looks likely to improve," Eede said.

Yesterday the weekly 'Southwark News' concentrated on our postponement as well:

Hamlet fans dig in but Jack Frost beats them

More than 25 Dulwich Hamlet fans pitched up at Champion Hill at 8am to get Saturday's table topping clash on. but ultimately the cold temperatures defeated them.
The army of supporters answered a plea from the club to help get the fixture against Maidstone United on, and worked for hours clearing the pitch as well as protecting frozen sections.
In addition to the ground-staff, who had a snow-plough and a tractor, fans turned up with their shovels and broke their backs so Dulwich could continue an unbeaten run that began on October 30.
Their efforts looked set to pay dividends as the game passed a 10.30am inspection, only for temperatures to drop in the early afternoon forcing the match referee to postpone the game just after 1pm.
Club secretary Martin Eede told the News: "We had 25 to 30 supporters turn up in response to our appeal which was just fantastic. I can't tell you how good it made us all feel to see them turn up and really work hard. They weren't standing around posing, they all worked so hard. We came so close to getting this game on but the temperatures just dropped after midday and despite us having a hot air machine on parts of the pitch, which a fan fetched for us, when we moved it the pitch would go hard. So the ref made the right decision but we all wanted to play this game and the club can't thank those who came along to help us enough'"
That sentiment was shared by the players and managers at Dulwich. Hamlet assistant manager Junior Kadi told the club website: " It probably was the rigth decision in the end, as I don't think either side would have wanted any player injured in these conditions. I have so much respect for our fans for their loyal support, but after their work today, which all the players saw as they arrived, that respect has just gone up another notch, if that's possible."
To keep up with the latest news on Hamlet, including if games survive the weather, visit www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet/

And, finally, up to date, with the current weekend edition of the 'South London Press', published today, where Gavin Rose looks to the games ahead, that are due:

Tough games coming thick and fast for promotion hopefuls

BRING 'EM ON

Dulwich Hamlet face crunch-time in the next few days as they take on a promotion rival and look to go a step further in the Isthmian League Cup.
In second spot in the Ryman League Division One South only on goal difference,Dulwich are away to third-placed Leatherhead tomorrow before hosting Premier Division side Kingstonian in the quarter-finals of the cup on Tuesday.
The latter was re-arranged from last Tuesday and put paid to another league match with Crawley Down Gatwick, currently in fifth. Throw in last Saturday's top-of-the-table clash with Maidstone United,which was called off due to the snow, and a League Cup victory over another Premier Division side, Wealdstone -who were second in their league at the time- and you can see the original schedule has not been kind to Dulwich.
Despite the postponements, it is a real test of their credentials.
But they have still not shown any signs of a dip in form and manager Gavin Rose is confident his side can continue their run into the latter stages of the season. "All games in this league are tough but those against the top teams are the ones that the boys should want to play in most,"Rose said. "Playing the top teams shows where we are as a squad and we have coped very well so far. We must concentrate on one game at a time but if we come out of this extea-tough period with some good results, I will be delgihted. But there is no point in beating all the big teams if you go and drop points against the teams at the bottom-that has happened before and cost us. You are likely to be playing someone who is making a late push for the play-offs or trying to avoid relegation in the latter part of the season so those teams can be as dangerous as each other."
Rose is not expecting any favours from Leatherhead tomorrw, as a win for the hosts will close the gap with Hamlet to just two points. While his teams always play to win, any sort of positive result will satift Rose. "They've got a good management team and a strong squad so it's no real surprise to me that they are doing so well," he said. "We want to come away with a minimum of a point. Of course we would like all three and we will play the way we know best but it is a very tough game so we would not be upset to come awat with a draw."
Supporters' efforts to enable last weekend's game agaisnt Maidstone to go ahead were in vain, but Rose thinks their dedication in turning up to help clear the snow off the pitch is an example of how everyone involved with the club is pulling together. "In reality there was a good chance it wouldn't be played, but the decision was still tough because it was clsoe to kick-off and the players were in gme mode," he said. "The boys will bounce back quickly and are really looking forward to the Leatherhead game. The effort by the fans last weekend was brilliant. They all mucked in to get the game on. They also have a schem that aims to help us sign players. We want to show our appreciation by playing entertaining football, being competitive in every game, by showing we are giving 100 per cent. Fans can be important, even at this level. It's been a real team effort by both the players and fans this season-they inspire each other."