Dulwich 0 City 2 (Smith, Stearn)

Tight game of few chances where City eventually notched through Smith blasting home a loose ball in the area and Stearn perhaps toeing in a goalbound header over his own keeper from a hapless defender. Great City support in 3000 plus crowd.

4th in table and joint third in the form table which is amazing considering the amount of players we had available in the busy period. Don't know what's happened to Dulwich Hamlet since they moved back to Champion Hill though. Maybe they have taken the fear of playing in front of big crowds over from us as we seem to be revelling in it. Bragging rights from today aside, I hope they sort it out as it would be a shame to see them relegated.

I think our fitness is playing a big part in winning matches.

I can't see Dulwich being relegated from this league. It was a very tough game with a healthy throng of City fans making all the noise. We had the better of the first half and should have gone in 1 nil up, but Tom Smith delayed his shot too long when right in front of goal, allowing a last ditch challenge to take the sting out of his shot and giving Preston time to recover the ball before it trickled over the line. In the second half the highly energetic, physical encounter meant both sides struggled to find enough space to play any flowing football. Time and again possession was ceded back to the other side as the focus of the action ebbed and flowed from one end to the other. In all honesty it was a poor advert for Nat Sth football, not helped by the appalling lights and lack of terracing. It was very hard to pick out the Dulwich players in the gloom, and you'd have to be Comrade Powell to gain any kind of view pitch side. In the end we edged it through a bit of good fortune, excellent defending and the fitness of the players that enabled us to maintain a very high tempo throughout the game, which may also have resulted in a little extra sharpness in the box when it mattered.
Both games against Dulwich have been very hard fought wins and as Gerry Dolan said at the end, "Teams who are successful win games like that." We didn't play amazing football, but it seems we know how to grind out victories when not at our best.

My recollection of the home game was that Dulwich tried to play football and that played into our hands as we were better than they were at it. Sounds like they had decided to keep it tight to avoid the same happening again. 

Well played to the lads for grinding out a result.

Demon, not sure I agree about it being a poor advert for this league. I've seen far worse games than that this season and thought there were periods, far more for us, when flowing football prevailed.
I agree about Dulwich's kit though - like Wealdstone's before Christmas it doesn't show up once it gets dark.

And my view of the game was perfect!

As Keith says it wasn't a great game but we always looked the better side, it was just a case of staying tight at the back and hoping a bit of quality or a lucky break came our way. In the end it was a bit of both, the ball breaking to Tom Smith about 12 yards out and an emphatic finish into the roof of the net. The second was all luck but I think 2-0 was a fair scoreline.

I recall for about 30 minutes at Twerton they looked as good as any side we've faced at this level but there was no sign of that team today. The only time they were on top was for a 10-15 minute spell in the first half and other than one shot that Clarke diverted onto the post they never really troubled us at the back even then.

As for the place it was an odd atmosphere for such a large crowd. For the noise they produced in the first half there may as well be 30 home fans rather than nearly 3000. It seemed the majority were there for a few drinks outside with friends, with some entertainment provided in the background which every now and again they took in but weren't really too fussed about. When they noticed the numerous comments about 'our' no.7 or Dulwich's little winger showed how connected many were to the actual team.

The second half was a bit better but when you compare the atmosphere to Torquay with about 1000 more fans and a similarly balanced game it was completely unrecognisable. It does seem that going to the game is more of a fashionable thing to do rather than actually having any real feeling for the team. You get to wear pink, eat proper pulled pork (not sure how you pull pork improperly) and drink craft beer (though given the two pints I bought cost £10 you'd not want to drink much of it). You can then head out for the evening into Central London to some hip bar or club where a £5 drink would be a bargain.

The only time I saw some passion from a home fan was when a more mature supporter stopped amongst the City fans as he got near the exit for a quick getaway, cursing a few Dulwich players (he knew their names) and then telling one of them to bring Watto down when he tried to bring the ball forward.

So, all in all a satisfactory if slightly surreal afternoon.

Oh, and I agree that the floodlights were crap.

I’ll post more tomorrow but the atmosphere reminded me of attending Team GB in Cardiff during London 2012. Stacks of people, not a hint of trouble but vast majority not that interested in the game. When we played Dulwich away they clearly had a decent percentage of their average home crowd but they seemed to make more noise.

Feared the worst when we set up our radio kit and saw about eight empty beer cans near us but the people in front were very affable and their media lot couldn’t have been more friendly.

So all quite unusual. There wasn’t the buzz of a matchday - the crowd at Chippenham was less than half today and it was deafening in comparison - but at least today, like Chippenham, was hassle-free. Some clubs have a few successful years and attract all sorts of idiots. It’s different but, from what I saw, harmless.

The floodlights were horrendous. I honestly thought they must have failed on our side of the ground (stand side) second half. I swear when we played Fisher a few years back they were miles better.

I suppose with the New Year’s Day destruction of Chippnumb fresh in my mind it was a poor spectacle by comparison. Mind you, by that measure so would 99% of all matches played. The very poor view of the pitch really didn’t help. Dulwich paid us a great compliment by setting up to press us, keep the spaces tight and not allow us to get our passing going. Our best period was the first quarter of the game and after that they adjusted well and started to close us down. The consequence was that they couldn’t offer much up top. There were moments of clever play, particularly from the exciting Raynes (please sign him on a 3 year deal before someone takes him off us) and every player ran their socks off, but a spectacle it was not. Thought our defence was immense again today. Cundy and Amankwaah outstanding.

Fantastic win, agree with the unusual crowd. For supposedly London’s most inclusive club I’m sad to report an unfortunate incident in the first half when Tom Smith was down injured. A solitary Dulwich fan then launched into a rather unpleasant rant about why people with red hair don’t count as players and should be put down and not treated, kind of soured my afternoon somewhat.

On the other side, after Tom scored another supporter asked me what that meant the score was.....glad to see us of a red haired trait had the last laugh.

13 points from these 5 matches is fantastic, hope we can keep it going.

I'm glad you enjoyed the win and your team are certainly one of the best in the league.

As to the unusual crowd well it is certainly as much about being a community focus as the football but then again people pay to get into a night club but don't necessarily want to listen to the music very much.

I'm sorry there was one unacceptable comment amongst over 3000 people but I don't quite see how that means we are any less inclusive, just that there are idiots everywhere.

The stadium was never designed to be comfortable with the level of crowds curre fly turning up. However, I'm sure any club in the league would like to be selling out their stadium, even if all the people attending weren't shouting and singing for 2 hours solid.

The crowds on our homecoming have shown just how much the community values it's foot all club and getting back home at all has been nothing less than miraculous. Not many, if any, club's have been thrown out of their stadium and got it back.

Good luck in your promotion push

Thanks DHFC.

Yes I agree about football fans. They want people to turn up but only if they help to create a great atmosphere. Certainly Bath City would be very happy as a club if we were pulling in 3000 every week but the fans would moan that there was no atmosphere and the queues for the tea bar were too long.

More power to the prawn sandwich brigade.

I'm sure things will quickly settle down at Dulwich after all the hype about their return dies down and many of their day tripper fans* look for other Saturday afternoon activities. I agree with Yuffie's comments - at times it reminded me of a T20 match (not that I'd be seen dead at one of those) with a high proportion of the crowd seemingly there to drink and hardly noticing what was being played out in front of them.

Still, a very friendly club with a long, proud history. I certainly appreciated the efforts they went to regarding the opportunity for our fans to reserve tickets. Without that facility some who are not online would not have got in had they arrived just before ko.  

I had a chat with the elderly chap featured in their excellent programme. 99 years old and supporting Hamlet since he was 12!  

* day tripper fans as mentioned on their forum, in case its member BIG reads this and adds to his vitriol about our club and fans...

Yes slightly subdued atmosphere - I've been going to DHFC on and off for about 15 years as I used to live in the area, and from past experience I think crowds of about 1400 was the sweet spot where there was a good balance of engaged supporters and day trippers... nice problem to have though!

I didn't get in until 30mins after kickoff which was a pain - that's the problem with London though, it's just too many people queuing for too few events

Quite a surreal experience.
Spent most of the match on the move as avoiding people walking round with one or several beers, having group discussions with their backs to the on-field action or pushing assorted toddler vehicles around.

It seems it was a social event for most of the crowd that was probably spoilt
by the outbreak of a scheduled football match.

We joined the queue to get in at just before 2.30 and went through the turnstile at kick-off time. There seemed no urgency to get people in and just 4 turnstiles for 3k people is totally inadequate.

I suppose that everything will return to normal at Dulwich once a game has to take place in heavy rain!

I imagine the turnstiles are manned by volunteers so it is difficult to suddenly find people to meet a surge in demand.

To be fair to Dulwich, if you did have a print at home ticket, getting in was a breeze. We were pointed to a turnstile by a steward which for a moment gave us the impression we were going the wrong way (we were walking against the crowds going to what I guess are the main pay turnstiles), but once there we were in within seconds.

For the size of the crowd I also thought the bar was well staffed and surprisingly quick at dealing with the queues. Many good things, some bad that are harder to fix quickly (e.g. not enough terrace height, no where near enough toilets.)

Peter Newman wrote:Quite a surreal experience.
Spent most of the match on the move as avoiding people walking round with one or several beers, having group discussions with their backs to the on-field action or pushing assorted toddler vehicles around.

It seems it was a social event for most of the crowd that was probably spoilt
by the outbreak of a scheduled football match.

We joined the queue to get in at just before 2.30 and went through the turnstile at kick-off time. There seemed no urgency to get people in and just 4 turnstiles for 3k people is totally inadequate.

I suppose that everything will return to normal at Dulwich once a game has to take place in heavy rain!

Were there special deals on the beer and entrance with proof of residence?

Colin Voutt wrote:

Were there special deals on the beer and entrance with proof of residence?

I recognise all the words just not in that order

tovid wrote:

Colin Voutt wrote:

Were there special deals on the beer and entrance with proof of residence?

I recognise all the words just not in that order

Which order would you have liked them in?

I MAY be able to arrange it.

1. Entrance to what?
2. Proof of residence from where?
3. Is the proof of residence linked to the special deal on beer.
4. If so for what purpose?

I think I've worked it out for myself. It was reference to those toddler vehicles that confused me.

You are questioning whether the club had given away free tickets and beer vouchers to boost attendance.

It is a strategy employed by a number of clubs to encourage people to turn up and experience the matchday. I know Wasps gave away thousands of tickets to their rugby matches.

Eventually gates gradually do grow.

comrade powell wrote:
I had a chat with the elderly chap featured in their excellent programme. 99 years old and supporting Hamlet since he was 12!  

Finally finished reading the prog this morning. It included a review of their 1959/60 season. There are frequent complaints these days about the disruption to league fixtures by cup competitions and some of us older fans can remember the various floodlight cup competitions the club took part in, not to mention the Welsh Cup. But I don't think we can match the nine separate
cup competitions which Hamlet took part in that season...

South of the Thames Cup (which included matches held over from the previous season)
FA Cup
FA Amateur Cup
Surrey Senior Cup
London Charity Cup
Surrey Invitation Cup
London Challenge Cup
London Senior Cup
Mayes Memorial Cup

I wonder what the record number is for any club entering cup competitions...

Surprisingly the Isthmian League only contained 16 clubs that season so they managed to squeeze in six friendlies
during the season as well and several of their players turned out for four representative teams.

Martin, check out 74/75 season for us......