HEN-DONE IN!

It's seems a long time now since I've posted on this blog, not that many people bothered to notice really, but it's time to get the 'enthusiasm' back & catch up on the backlog.
So first up is the home game back in September, against Hendon, who were brand new opponents for us. This report was kindly sent to me by Chris Tabrett.

Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' FC 3
Hendon Supporters' 2

Saturday 27th September
11am kick off
Belair Park,Dulwich

It was a sunny and very hot day when "The Rabblers" took on the mighty supporters of Ryman Premier Division outfit Hendon FC. This match was built up for an easy walk over for the opposition seeing as there was a few postings on the forum suggestion that the Hendon lot were expecting an easy victory, but how wrong they were. The game was a match of two halves as "The Rabblers" had a solid first half, scoring all three goals in the this period. You could certainly put this down to the fact that everyone was fighting for each other, the defenders kept it solid at the back, the midfielders won every single battle in the centre of the park,with some important headers and some great passing to open Hendon up, and the strikers had their scoring boots on. The first goal came in the first minutes as James O'Shaughnessy slotted the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0. Hendon did not know what had hit them. "The Rabblers" piled even more pressure on as Ian Gannon got the 2nd goal to make it 2-0. Shortly after that Ian was substituted as his re-occuring foot injury was played up, which saw his replacement Shaun Dooley come into the fray. As soon as Shaun came on he hit a sweet half volley which the keeper struggled to save, scrambling down to the bottom corner. Then the 3rd goal came which James neatly finished to get his 2nd of the game and or third and final one. The Hendon lot couldn't wait for the half time whistle to go.

At half time the 'Gaffer' Mick was totally gob smacked and actually told the troops that we were playing some nice stuff, but we were also playing too much football. You won't here those comments come out of his mouth again!

The 2nd half kicked off with "The Rabblers" looking for the first half performance to be repeated. hHwever this was not the case as Hendon fired back with two quick goals. Dulwich held onto the lead and had two chances to finish the game off. The first of these was a great header and was superbly saved by the goalkeeper. The ball was whipped in from the right wing and rising from the 18 yard line Chris Tabrett connected a dipping header which the keeper got a finger tip denying him his first ever "Rabblers" goal. However the second chance was a great opportunity with midfielder David Yuill linking up with James perfectly, and running through still in an onside posistion was Chris Tabrett waiting for the pass, but'greedy' James had every right to go for goal even if his team mates thought different. Dulwich held on and with a couple minutes to go one of the Hendon midfield players struck a great volley that Matt Hammond saved. The final whistle blew and Dulwich Hamlet held on for a great victory.

Overall the back four did a fantastic job and was well organised by skipper Steve Rickerby, the midfield ran their hearts out by creating a lot of chances and helping to defend their lead and the strikers finished off enough of the chances when they came along.

Team: Matt Hammond; Matt Pike; Matt Edwards; Steve Rickerby; Paul Verrico; Phil Doyle; Dawn Taylor; Chris Tabrett; David Yuill, Ian Gannon; James O'Shaughnessy & Shaun Dooley.

Thanks to Chris for that excellent report.

The following Wednesday we were away to Hendon, unfortunately losing, in the replay of the FA Cup second qualifying round tie. Their official First Team programme inlcuded a report, obviously from their persepctive, on the match at Belair,written by Steve Rogers:

"Our Supporters team played their first game of the season ahead of our FA Cup tie against Dulwich Hamlet last Saturday and despite going down to a 3-2 defeat, it was a very creditable performance that manager Eddie Edwards was very pleased with.
However, it was a poor start for the Greens, who found themselves 3-0 down inside 15 minutes as individual errors were punished. But after the third goal Hendon seemd to gain in confidence as they settled down and got used to playing with each other again. The Dulwich defence held firm and the home side still led 3-0 at half-time.
The Greens had the perfect start to the second half when Nick McMullen finished well after being set up by Jake Osborn.
There were a few scares when Dulwich broke away, but Ritvars in the Hendon goal was in fine form and made a number of important saves, gaining the man of the match vote from the manager in the process.
The second goal came with around 15 minutes to go courtesy of a player that was loaned to the Greens from Dulwich after he too was set up by Osborn. The best chances for an equaliser fell to under 13 manager Leo Gerald, but the Dulwich keeper made a great save."

I wasn't present at the game itself as I was working, though I did make a trip to the ground afterwards, to ask the Gaffer Mick O'Shaughnessy for his views on the match. Unfortunately-despite this being the only reason for me having gone to Champion Hill that evening- when I got my notebook out he told me that his assistant Hutty would write something for me & send me an email.

Which he did, & I reproduce below:

"Team Matt Paul Steve Matt Matt Phil David Dawn Chris James Ian sub Sean come on after 48 mins for Ian

Dulwich Hamlet S FC 3 Hendon 2

Dulwich dominated from the start plenty of through balls from the midfield finding our strikers.
James scored from a long ball from David after 10 minutes followed by more pressure and finally another goal by Ian after
15 mins . Several more chances went begging until the the 30min when James fired home Dulwichs third.
In the first half our defence and midfield had dominated and our strikers finding the net which enabled us to go in with a 3 nil lead at half time.
Ian was substituted after 25mins because of a foot injury by Sean who went up front.
Hendon came into the game in the second half and scored after 50mins which really drove them on. Matt in goal made numerous saves one
world class in which he saved at full stretch a hard shot which he palmed away with one hand. `
Hendons dominance paid dividends as they clawed back another goal after 75mins poor defence by Dulwich letting the ball go under there feet.
The last 15 mins saw Matt keep Dulwich in the game with 4 more minutes added on by the referee made for a tense finish.
Full marks to our visitors Hendon for being sporting opponents"

He also forwarded his review of the match onto the Gaffer, & Mick added these words of wisdom:

"I would add that some of the football played by Dulwich in the first half was superb. We kept the ball down and passed it really well. Chris Tabrett particularly played really well in the opening period. Second half wasn't as good as the first but apart from the first goal, we seemed to keep Hendon at bay quite comfortably. When Hendon scored their second, tiredness seemed to catch up with one or two of us, as it always seems to do now, and we had to be grateful for Matt in goal for a few outstanding saves to ensure our victory.

Should point out that Ian went off injured in the first half just as we were thinking of bringing on a substitute. That was with about 25mins played. So it was a great effort by all those who played nearly the full 90mins.

The match was played in the right spirit by both teams. And a big thank you to Mr.Baker for refereeing the match. Even if his watch went a bit wonky in the last few minutes. Definitely a team of supporters we would like to play again if other commitments allow it. A big thank you to the Hendon supporters for contributing to a very sporting match."

To be fair to Hutty he did attempt to send me on the full names of the team. Not perfect, but an improvement!

"Here is the team names :- Matthew Hammond Paul Vennier Steve Rickaby Matt Pike Mat Edwards Phil Doyle Dawn Taylor Chris Tabbett David Yuill James O'Shaughnessy Ian Gannon sub Sean Dooley "

Still, it goes without saying thanks to all four people for contributing to this post. Cheers!