December 3, 2022
The National League’s cautiousness in moving all fixtures today to 12.30 kick-offs in case England finished runners-up in their World Cup group and so would be playing their knock-out match at 15.00, proved to be unfounded. Nevertheless, I was quite happy that Oxford City’s match was being played at an early time as at this of year it gets quite chilly when the sun sets at Court Place Farm, and at the current prices of electricity City would also presumably be happy not to incur the cost of using their floodlights !
Today’s visitors were Dulwich Hamlet, so it was a meeting between two sides with illustrious histories in the Amateur era of English football, with Oxford City having won the FA Amateur Cup in 1906, and Dulwich four times, in 1920, 1932, 1934 and 1937.
Dulwich are the best supported side in the division with a home average so far this season of 2,218, and they had a capacity crowd of 3,334 for their game against Dartford. The turnaround in the fortunes of the club over the past 15 years or so has been remarkable, and the club are referred to in some quarters as “Hipster FC” thanks to successfully attracting an eclectic range of fans due their support of various “good causes”, a commitment to inclusion and diversity, and the promotion of being a family friendly club. The availability of craft ale, and bratwurst, souvlaki or other exotic food offerings at their Champion Hill ground probably didn’t hinder their growth ! The stereotype of their supporters though is depicted as being “young bearded trendies” ( copyright @ The Sun ) and with self-depreciating humour, their fans refer to themselves as “the Rabble”.
On the pitch, Dulwich are not having the best of seasons. After going unbeaten in their opening three league games, they lost seven on the trot, and during this run coach Gavin Rose was sacked after 13 years in charge. Ex-Staines coach Paul Barnes was initially appointed as interim manager, and after an improvement in results, was given the job on a permanent basis.
Hamlet started the day in 20th position with a 5-2-9 record. Last time out they exited the FA Trophy after a 1-2 loss at fellow National League One South side Taunton, and before that lost 1-5 in the league at Havant and Waterlooville. However, their two previous outings to that had been wins over Hampton and Richmond ( 3-2at home ) and at St Albans ( 2-1 ). Their three other victories this season have been over Braintree and Hungerford, both 2-1 at home, and 3-0 at Cheshunt. They had gone 16 games without a draw in the league.
Since promotion to National League South for the 2018/19 season Dulwich have had an appalling record against Oxford City, having lost all six matches played. There have been four matches played at Court Place Farm, 2-0 in 2021/22, 1-0 in 2020/21, 2-1 in 2019/20 and 4-1 in 2018/19, and due to Covid interrupted seasons only two at Champion Hill, where City prevailed 2-0 in 2021/22 and 1-0 in 2018/19. Hamlet were presumably hoping for a Lucky Seven today !
The Dulwich squad includes ex-Crawley, Peterborough and Whitehawk striker Danny Mills, ex-Oxford City winger Nana Owusu, ex-Crawley, Celtic and Wimbledon left wing-back Andre Blackman and midfielder Sam Deadfield, who was mentioned in these diaries last season whilst with Hampton and Richmond. Defender Quade Taylor played league football for Bolton. Mills and Owusu were joint top scorers with 6 a piece.
Since their home defeat on the opening day to Eastbourne Borough, which was covered in these diaries, Oxford City have remained unbeaten at home in nine further matches, and were in 8th place in the table today. Their record against the top three in the table was home draws against Dartford and Ebbsfleet and a win at Havant & Waterlooville, but their form against some of the lesser lights, particularly away from home, was not so impressive.
Dulwich were in their traditional pink and blue kit, whilst Oxford City were in their normal blue and white hoops.
The weather at the 12.30 kick-off was dry on a grey, chilly winter’s day with the temperature around 5°, but it felt colder than that.
Oxford City made a lively start and with only 10 seconds played Alfie Potter was found in space down the right, but his cross had keeper Charlie Grainger back-pedalling before it went narrowly over the bar. Striker Klaidi Lolos then played a nice 1-2 with Potter but was denied by a brave close range save by Grainger, and when the ball was returned into the danger area, Lolos slid in at the near post but put the ball a foot or so wide.
Dulwich weathered the early storm, and after 14 minutes Jayden Clarke’s low long-range shot was saved by the diving City keeper, who gathered at the second attempt. However, the respite was only temporary, and after Lolos laid the ball off, Ashby’s 30 yarder hit the top of the bar with the Dulwich keeper beaten.
A careless pass by an Oxford City defender went straight to Nana Owusu, perhaps still thinking he played for The Hoops, but his attempt on goal was blocked. City responded with a flowing moved which ended with McEachran setting up Ashby to shoot just over.
Hamlet won their first corner in the 21st minute when persistent play from the diminutive Joe Felix, who impressed throughout the match, forced an error from Harrison. Dulwich were enjoyed their first good spell of the game, winning a second corner, a free-kick midway in the City half, and a long throw into the mixer came off Harrison’s head but keeper Dudzinski made a low catch.
Skilful play by McEachran put the Hamlet left-back Wood on his back-side, after which a long ball from Ashby over the square Dulwich back line was well controlled by Lolos, but the danger was averted by a good tackle by Taylor.
The opening goal of the game arrived in the 28th minute. Williams-Bushell’s shot from outside the area went to Lolos, who controlled, turned, beat his marker and then fired into the bottom corner from 12 yards to give the home side the lead.
Dulwich response was to win a free-kick 25 yards out, but Owusu’s effort was tamely chipped straight at the keeper, after which City’s McEachran cut-in from the left and saw his shot deflected of an outstretched foot just wide of the far post.
Out of the blue, the visitors equalized in the 34th minute. Mills managed to get ahead of Burley to prod a long-ball forward, and then was able to run clear on goal and coolly steer past the advancing keeper.
The goal seemed to take the wind out of Oxford City’s sails and although Lolos saw a shot blocked inside the area, Dulwich finished the half stronger, and after Mills outjumped Carroll to win a header with a challenge that left the City centre-back in a heap on the floor, Felix ran on but from a good position shot a few feet wide. The ex-Torquay United man probably should have done better.
At the half-time whistle, City perhaps might have felt they should have been ahead, but they had missed their chances, and Dulwich were looking stronger as the game progressed.
At first it didn’t seem as if many Hamlet fans had made the journey the 60 odd mile journey to Oxford, but at the start of the second half 40 or so fans were congregated behind the goal their side were attacking, and many more of their supporters could be spotted dotted all around the ground. Their side made a tactical change at half-time, and the introduction of Sanchez Ming at full-back had an almost immediate impact as Dulwich took the lead three minutes into the second period.
A free-kick on the left found Taylor just outside the 6 yard line and the centre-back should have buried the chance. However, his badly timed header went straight to the unmarked George Porter who had a simple header at the near post to make it 2-1 to Dulwich. The goal brought “The Rabble” to life who started making a noise for the first time in the encounter, singing and banging the advertising hoardings.
With City’s frustration mounting, Potter was shown the first yellow card of the game, diving in on Felix after losing control of the ball. With a goal lead to protect, Hamlet commenced what is euphemistically called these days as “game management”. Throw-ins took an age to be taken, likewise free-kicks as the designated taker eventually moved away for someone else to then take his time to take.
A cross into the City penalty area saw the linesman raise his flag for offside against Mills, who then ran back into on onside position to be bundled over inside the area after the whistle had blown. Dulwich protested furiously for a penalty, and at least 4 players surrounded the referee. It would have been a penalty if Mills wasn’t clearly offside when the ball was played.
After play resumed, Porter took every opportunity to mouth off at the linesman over the next 3-4 minutes, and if I am charitable, turned from goal-scoring hero to pantomime villain. Others might not be so charitable in their assessment !
Despite all of this, Dulwich were looking the side most likely to score next, and Taylor’s header from a corner went straight to Dudzinski when a yard either side would have been a certain goal.
There was no little rhythm to the play with a stop-start nature and the home side making little impression in creating an equalizer. Fleet did have a long-range attempt diverted by the outstretched foot of Ming, and Coyle sent a shot over the bar from just outside the Dulwich area.
City brought on striker Josh Parker to move to two up-front but it was Dulwich who fashioned the next good chance as Clarke held the ball up well to set-up Felix to burst through the City back line, but his shot from a tight angle was blazed over. Ming then went on a strong run down the right-wing and was able to pick-out Owusu in space on the left-hand side of the area. Unfortunately for the ex-City player, his volley was miss-hit into the ground and Fleet was able to clear.
Porter’s antics continued by deliberately kicking the ball away with the referee unsighted when City won a free-kick, but when Felix did the same a minute later, the referee was watching and awarded a yellow card for the mis-demeanour.
Porter then surpassed himself when after challenging for an aerial duel near the touchline, he threw himself to the floor appealing for a free-kick. Quite pathetic really, and all a bit village for Hamlet.
Justice of sorts was then delivered in the 73rd minute as a cross from the right wing from Coyle found centre-back Harrison free beyond the back post to volley into the ground and into the roof of the net to make the score 2-2.
Bouyed by the goal, the home side went in search of a winner and Williams-Bushell whipped in a cross which sent keeper Grainger scrambling to his near post to concede a corner, from which Fleet flashed a shot just wide.
The yellow cards started to mount up for Dulwich, as Clarke and Ming incurred the referee’s displeasure and Porter made another abysmal dive in the area in a poor attempt to con the referee for a penalty. However, he did have some success a few minutes later when with the referee playing advantage after a foul by Oxford, Porter hoofed the ball 60 yards to the City keeper and yelled at the referee “What advantage ?”. The referee then reluctantly blew for the free-kick, perhaps in recognition that Porter having the ball wasn’t an advantage to Hamlet………
At this point the sun appeared, but if anything it seemed to get even colder !
With Dulwich players having been keen to spend a lot of time rolling on the floor, there wasn’t initially too much concern when full-back Wood went down writhing on the floor after an innocuous challenge from Williams-Bushell as the ball went out of play. However, it soon became clear that this was indeed something serious as the stretcher was called for. Thankfully, it wasn’t needed and Wood was helped to his feet, but was clearly in no condition to continue and had to be replaced. Hopefully his injury turns out to be nothing serious.
With 5 minutes lost to Wood’s injury, in the spirit of the World Cup, the referee added on 10 extra minutes. Ironically, after all of their delaying tactics earlier on, the extra-time nearly benefitted Dulwich as they came closest to snatching a late winner. Porter was found in acres of space on the right but delivered a poor cross, and from a quick counter Felix set-up Clarke, whose snap-shot curled inches wide of the far post. Close, but no cigar ! Mills also showed good skill to make space for a half-chance but was crowded out by the City defence.
The Hoops’s only responses were for Parker to make an outrageous dive, which fooled the referee into awarding a free-kick, and Parker also sent a long-range attempt which Grainger easily saved.
Upon the final whistle, a draw was probably a fair result given the balance of play. Dulwich finally broke their hoodoo against City in the National League South by claiming their first point against The Hoops in their seventh attempt, which took them a further point away from the bottom four. They also ended their long run without a league draw. Oxford City remained in 8th place, and stretched their unbeaten home run to 10 matches.
Oxford City : Dudzinski – Burley, Carroll, Harrison – Williams-Bushell, Potter ( Parker ), Ashby, Fleet, Coyle – McEachran – Lolos ( Iaciofano )
Dulwich Hamlet : Grainger – Eweka, Taylor, Vint ( Ming ), Wood ( Comley ) – Porter, Felix, Raymond, Clarke - Mills, Owusu ( Blackman )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WauvbRIRKTg
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