With the local press taking time off this week, due to the Christmas holidays, we take a moment to glance back to last week

Starting on Tuesday 18th December, in the midweek edition of the 'South London Press', there was very little about us in the non-league coloumn, with the Merstham game on the previous Saturday being called off:

"...In the same division, Dulwich Hamlet saw their game against Merstham postponed after the match referee decided the pitch was not fit to play on, despite a local offcial giving it the all clear earlier in the day. Dulwich host Wealdstone tomorrow in the Isthmian League Cup."

Almost a week ago, last Thursday, the 'Southwark News' was published. It was watered down coverage, because of the rain.

Hamlet postponement
Dulwich were left with no fixture last weekend despite their clash with Merstham initially passing a morning pitch inspection. A local referee passed the Surrey pitch playable at 10.15am on Saturday leaving fans and the team ready to travel in order to hopefully pick up another three points.
But the match referee took a different stance when inspecting the ground at 1.15pm, despite there being no additional rain, and declared that one goal mouth was unplayable and called the game off.
Hamlet still sit second in the Ryman League South after the weekend just one point, having played two games more, behind Maidstone United.
Dulwich are in action four times between now and January 3 kicking off with a home game this Saturday, at 3pm, against Crawley Down Gatwick.
The Pink and Blues then travel to Chipstead on Boxing Day and Worthing three days later, before rounding off with a derby encounter against Tooting & Mitcham on New Years Day, again kicking off at 3pm. To keep up with the latest at the club, including if games have survived the weather, visit www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet .

Finally, last Friday in the midweek edition of the 'South London Press', there was a preview of the Crawley Down Gatwick match, which ended up, of course, our fourth consecutive postponement!

Tough test for Dulwich
Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose expects a tough challenge when his side host Crawley Down Gatwick tomorrow. Rose's side were beaten 3-1 at Crawley Down earlier in the season. "We did not play well at all," he said. "They've been in the top half of the table all season but we have a lot of tough games coming up in the new year sp we have to get used to it."
Defenders Ahmed deen and Josh Turner are now looking at January for a return from injury. Rose is keen for them to be fit for action so that himself, assistant Junior Kadi and coach Kevin James can return to watching games from the sidelines.
"It will be great to get them back,"Rose said. "The squad will be a lot stronger and we will have 17 or 18 very good players to choose from. It's been a blow to lose them because we've still had to have people like myself, Junior & Kevin all going out and warming up, which we don't really want to do. Junior and Kevin are both very good players but we don't want to be called upon as much as we have been. On the pitch you cannot see what is going on as well as you can from the sidelines. We want to choose when to call upon them rather than being forced into it."