Dulwich Hamlet Women’s Reserves were back in action against newly promoted Carshalton Athletic on Sunday looking to back up a comfortable win against Sporting Benfica.

Both teams started brightly in attack as Carshalton’s direct long balls caused a bit of confusion in the Dulwich backline and Dulwich created two clear opportunities but could only shoot straight at the keeper. Dulwich then clicked into gear and were able to cut open Carshalton’s defence at will as they struggled to deal with Neve Mayes’s ability to hold up the ball and find our wingers. Dulwich continued to create chances with Dalia Fraga Martinez unlucky to see her first time effort from a cut back hit the bar and Nikiya Palmer-Steele’s lob agonisingly dropping over with the keeper stranded. Kylie Krames finally opened the scoring, stealing in from a defensive mix up and slotting cooly past the keeper. A second quickly followed as Nikiya made no mistake, slotting in an excellent cross from Dulwich’s player of the match El Kelly. Dulwich escaped with a warning as an outrageous 40 yard plus effort cannoned off the bar and went into the break with a comfortable 2 nil lead. 

The second half started scrappily as Dulwich struggled to get hold of the ball and play as Carshalton continued to go long and the game became more physical. A glancing header from captain Anna Stones from a Minnie Crutwell corner finally put the game to bed. As Carshalton tired more space opened up for Dulwich to exploit and Shakkira Sesay got her first goal of the season, tucking in a rebound from Izzy Sinclair’s powerful strike to make it four nil.

The Reserves are back at home again next week against Greenwich Borough with a 13.30 kick off at the Training Ground.