By Simeon Wright at Meadowbank
Dulwich Hamlet’s horror end to the season hit another low as a 3-0 lead turned into 4-3 defeat in the last half hour away at Dorking Wanderers last weekend.
The National League South play-offs were no longer in Dulwich’s reach going into the match after a run of ten – now eleven – matches without victory, but a goal from Darren McQueen and two from Jordan Green had initially left travelling fans wondering what might have been had early-season form not taken such a nosedive.
Dorking have narrowly missed out on automatic promotion and made a number of changes ahead of their upcoming play-offs, but did look somewhat shell-shocked when Dulwich raced into a 2-0 lead inside 23 minutes.
Green pounced on a loose pass by Darren Oldaker to play in McQueen, who rounded goalkeeper Slavomir Huk before squeezing the ball into an empty net.
Then the same combination linked up again as Green placed his shot with power into the right corner from eighteen yards, following McQueen’s cut-back.
It was a bumper Bank Holiday crowd of 1,875 at Meadowbank, a strong section of whom were Dulwich fans, and the pink and blue were celebrating once again in the 48th minute when Green converted a penalty of his own making.
The former Barnsley winger tiptoed up to the spot and sent Huk the wrong way after Wanderers wing-back Bobby Joe-Taylor had brought him down in the box.
Cue an incredible fightback. Dorking winger Jimmy Muitt entered the pitch moments after the Hamlet’s third and on the hour-mark headed across goal to present National League South top-scorer Alfie Rutherford with his 29th goal of the season, as he nodded past Charlie Grainger.
Eight minutes later, former Dulwich midfielder Harry Ottaway’s deft flick from a corner found its way to Rutherford again, who cut the deficit to 3-2.
It got worse for the Hamlet and manager Gavin Rose when Ottaway equalised from close range in the 74th minute. Misery was piled on for the visitors as Giovanni McGregor was shown a straight red card for apparent dissent five minutes later.
The inevitable happened two minutes from time. Muitt picked out Rutherford again and heroics from Grainger to deny the 23-year-old a hat-trick were in vain as Josh Taylor arrived on the scene to net the winner.
Dulwich began the day slap bang in mid-table, eleventh out of 21 in the league, but dropped a place following this defeat and could finish as low as fourteenth if they lose to Hemel Hempstead on the final day of the season.
Rose is out of contract in the summer, but whatever happens regarding his future he knows that if he betters Hungerford’s result then the Hamlet will secure the highest league finish in the club’s history.
Dulwich play their final game of the season at Champion Hill, with a 3pm kick-off.