All the news from the local newspapers from the last week

Before we start on the local news though, we start with the ‘Non League Paper’ from last Sunday, as our FA Trophy game with Leatherhead was one of their featured matches, sending a reporter & a photographer:

‘LAZY’ WIN DOES NOT IMPRESS MANAGER
Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose felt the 3-0 score line wasn’t a true reflection of his team’s sluggish performance against Leatherhead in the FA Trophy.
The Hamlets saw off the Tanners with a brace from Ian Daly and a penalty from Erhon Oztomer after Paul Semakula was sent off.
The visitors will feel hard-done by having had more shots than their opponents, and despite the result Rose was critical of his team: “No disrespect to Leatherhead, we felt that we didn’t use the ball enough today. Even then we did have good opportunities around the box, but we weren’t clinical enough. It was quite a lazy, tired performance from us today, with no real reason for it because we had Tuesday off. So it was quite disappointing in terms of performance, but in terms of result on the outside it will look good as a 3-0, but personal performance was not right.”
Prior to the game, the hosts felt they had a score to settle after January’s fixture at Leatherhead was abandoned after a wall collapsed with Hamlet 2-0 in front only for Hamlet to lose the rearranged game.
Hamlet dominated possession and played out from defence, mostly through Peter Adeniyi, but their passing in the final third lacked the same sharpness and the forwards repeatedly lost their footing on the soft turf.
“We’ve played on worse pitches,” Rose said. “But some of the mistakes that the boys were making were down to themselves and nothing to do with the pitch and they know that. It happens, we have off days, but if we can win on our off days I’ll take that.”
The wayward passing helped Leatherhead counter-attack with pace. Leroy Griffiths and Tom Bradbrook took turns assisting one another, but both men failed to find a way past Phil Wilson in the Hamlet goal. Despite the growing frustration, Hamlet got the breakthrough on 36 minutes when Ian Daly fired in from the edge of the box. The striker had plenty of room to fire in a low, left-footed drive to beat Derek Ibrahim at his near post for a 1-0 half-time lead.
After the break Billy Crook slid a perfectly weighted ball through for Dean Lodge, who was pulled down by Semakula on 52 minutes. The referee pointed to the spot and Oztomer’s penalty went in off the post for 2-0, but Semakula was shown red to add to Richard Brady’s troubles. “We deserved a little more from today, we created a lot of chances, but it wasn’t our day.” Brady said. “We had a penalty against us, we were down to ten men and yet we still kept going and making chances and we just didn’t take any of them. We needed to take one of the opportunities we created, especially in the first half.”
Leatherhead carried on battling but were unable to seriously trouble Dulwich goalkeeper Wilson.
The game was all but decided by the time Daly fired in his spectacular second on 80 minutes, as the Hamlets striker found the top corner from 25 yards.
Star man: Ian Daly (Dulwich Hamlet)
Entertainment: *****

The Trophy tie was also the mention on Tuesday, in the midweek copy of the ‘South London Press’:

Dulwich march on in the Trophy

Dulwich Hamlet are in the hat for the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy after a comfortable 3-0 win over Leatherhead at Champion Hill.
Despite a slow start from the hosts, Ian Daly drilled a low opener with just under 10 minutes left of the first half.
Erhun Oztumer doubled Dulwich’s lead from the spot on 52 minutes after Dean Lodge was fouled before Daly’s second sealed the win after 80 minutes with a brilliant left-footed curler. The result was the perfect way to celebrate the news that boss Gavin Rose was chosen as the Ryman League Premier Division’s manager of the month for October.

And so on to yesterday’s weekly copy of the ‘Southwark News’. The Leatherhead game was covered:

Hamlet win ‘grudge’ cup encounter

Ian Daly bagged a brace of goals as Dulwich swept aside Leatherhead in a FA Trophy encounter many Hamlet fans considered a ‘grudge’ match.
Last season Dulwich were denied three points on their title run-in as a game at Leatherhead was abandoned with twelve minutes remaining, and Hamlet two goals up, due to the collapse of a small wall.
The celebrations of some Leatherhead players, and the loss of the replayed contest, left a bad taste in Hamlet fans mouths despite them going on to take the title.
On Saturday two goals from Daly and an Erhun Oztumer penalty, which also led to the dismissal of Semakula, saw Hamlet cruise past the visitors.
Gaffer Gavin Rose said: “It was a bitty performance. We did not hit our top level which is not always possible every week but we still won 3-0. I think when they had a man sent off it ended the game as a challenge but I was not entirely happy with the performance.”
Rose said that last seasons events played no role in his preparations although it was mentioned in the pre-match team talk. He added: “Most of the players were here last year so they knew what happened but we just said before the game there might be a bit more in the game and they needed to be on their guard. But we didn’t talk about last year apart from that it is in the past and couldn’t really effect what happened on Saturday.”

The main non-league feature in the ‘Southwark News’ concentrated on Gavin winning the Manager of the Month award:

Rose named manager of month

Hamlet boss Gavin Rose has picked up a manager of the month award after leading Dulwich to second spot in the Ryman Premier Division.
In October Dulwich picked up three wins from three outings in the league and progressed in both the Robert Dyas League Cup and the FA Trophy.
Speaking about the award Rose said: “ I don’t pay much attention to it really. A few people texted me to say congratulations and I wondered what they were talking about as I didn’t even know. But I don’t go out and play and I am not the only one who gives directions as Junior [Kadi]. Kevin [James] and the physio all play a part too. We’ve done well in the league since we come up and have been working hard. An individual gets this award but any manager will tell you that it takes a team to do well at any club. But we are doing well at the moment.”
Dulwich will play old foes Concord Rangers in the next round of the FA Trophy, a game set to be played on Saturday November 16 at Champion Hill.
The pair met in last season’s League Cup final where The Beachboys came out on top by a single goal in extra-time, in a tight but high quality encounter.
In the Robert Dyas League Cup Hamlet are set to play Cray Wanderers in the third round, with that tie now set to be played November 26 meaning the league fixture away to Leiston will be moved once again.

The last piece in the ‘Southwark News’ yesterday featured two of our former stars, progressing in the professional game:

Inspirational McCallum and Carr-Rose

Two ex-Hamlet strikers, Paul McCallum and Daniel Carr, should be an ‘inspiration’ to other youngsters at Champion Hill, says Dulwich manager Gavin Rose, after making an impact at professional clubs last weekend.
The teenagers earned moves to West Ham and Huddersfield Town after starring at Hamlet and both are starting to make a name for themselves at the higher echelons of the game.
McCallum, currently on loan at Torquay United, scored twice to earn United a win away at Bury on Saturday whilst Carr made his first league appearance for Town in their Championship match at Wigan.
Rose said: “Those guys are an inspiration for those that are still here at Champion Hill. It gives them real hope they can achieve things like those two guys in the future.”
He added that his current crop of young talent were impressing him with their work rate and their hunger for first team action.
“I am really pleased to have the guys playing regularly and competing for first-team places. To name a few Marcel Henry-Francis, Abdul Mansaray and Kershaney Samuels have worked really hard to compete for places, but others are impressing too.”

And, finally to today’s weekend edition of the ‘South London Press’, which features our current great run of form:

SEVEN HEAVEN

Dulwich Hamlet could put the seal on boss Gavin Rose’s manager of the month award tomorrow by achieving a first under him-a seventh win in a row.
But the Champion Hill manager is not worried about records or his award for October-he is just focussed on keeping his players on their toes so they win their next game, at Bognor Regis Town. Rose is stressing to his first-teamers that if they go off the boil, the talented youngsters at his disposal will ensure he has plenty of first-team options. “We’ve got quite a big squad and a group of young players who are pushing hard for a place in the first team,” he said. “That means there is plenty of respect from the senior players because they know they cannot rest on their laurels. If they are not performing, they can easily be replaced without it hitting the team,”
A win tomorrow would make it the first time Dulwich have won seven league matches in a row under Rose. “I had no idea about that,” he said. “We’ve had unbeaten runs before but there have been a few draws in there. I’m not really focussed on records because our main targets are at the end of the season.”
Rose predicts an entertaining affair at Bognor. The two teams shared two draws when they were both in Division One South two seasons ago. “I’ve got a lot of respect for the management and playing staff there,” Rose said. “We’ve played against them a lot in the last few years and they move the ball really well. We enjoy playing them because it’s challenging mentally and physically. Both teams like to play flowing football too so it should be a good one to watch.”
Ellis Green (hamstring) is the only absentee for Rose.
Dulwich have been drawn at home to Conference South side Concord Rangers in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy. The tie takes place next Saturday.