By Wilf MacDonnell at Champion Hill
Paul Barnes said his side were “superb to a man” as Dulwich Hamlet recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season to see off Hampton & Richmond Borough in a pulsating encounter at Champion Hill last weekend.
The home side secured a 3-2 National League South victory in the most dramatic of circumstances. Dulwich blew a two-goal lead and had Kreshnic Krasniqi sent off in first-half injury-time before Nana Owusu scored the winner from the penalty spot in the last minute. It was the second game in a row Owusu had scored a penalty to give Dulwich three league points, after their 2-1 win at St Albans the previous weekend.
Hampton approached the game cautiously, having been thrashed 6-0 at home by St Albans in their previous outing. Dulwich played in a familiar 4-3-3 formation, often looking to utilise the pace they possess in wide areas.
After just eight minutes, the Hamlet did exactly that. Jayden Clarke broke from midfield and played a simple pass wide to Owusu. He isolated Tommy Block in the area which tempted the defender into a clumsy tackle gifting Dulwich an early penalty. Owusu took it, casually striking right down the middle to give the hosts the lead.
Dulwich doubled their lead in the thirteenth minute. Owusu again committed defenders with his nifty footwork, found Will Wood on the overlap and the left-back crossed low for Danny Mills to jab home on the volley.
The home team appeared to be in complete control heading into half-time and had defended a number of set-pieces in a very assured fashion. However, in added-time before the break, Block’s long throw-in seemed to evade everyone until Hampton midfielder Alfy Whittingham met it with a well-placed half-volley into the bottom-right corner.
But not only was Dulwich’s lead halved before the break, they were also reduced to ten men. Just a minute after the goal, a skirmish after a strong challenge in the midfield resulted in Krasniqi being given his marching orders, for what was deemed by referee Harry Wager to be a headbutt.
In the second half, the Hamlet had to break away from their usual front-foot playing style and form a deep defensive block to try to hold their lead. Whittingham almost ruined this plan instantly as he was put through one-on-one by the diminutive Stefan Ilic, but Dulwich goalkeeper Charlie Grainger stood strong and made a great save to deny the Hampton man a second.
Eventually, though, the Hamlet’s resolve was broken. In the 65th minute, Beavers centre-back Luis Fernandez was the fastest to react to slot in the rebound after striker Tommy Wood had hit the post following a long throw-in.
Dulwich had to hold strong as the visitors began to lay siege to their goal but the threat of the counter-attack was always there. With ten minutes left, Joe Felix combined well with George Porter down the right but was denied a clear shot on goal by an excellent last-ditch challenge from opposing skipper Dean Inman.
Fortunately for the Hamlet, that wasn’t to be their last chance as, astonishingly, having soaked up pressure for the whole second half, they were awarded a penalty in the 90th minute.
Player of the month Felix again linked up with Porter who was serving as the lone outlet. Felix then showed incredible speed to nick the ball ahead of Inman who could only bring him down having arrived a split-second late. Owusu again took the responsibility and showed nerves of steel as for a second time he dispatched the penalty down the middle, with Hampton’s Joe Walsh diving the wrong way.
Barnes was thrilled with his side. He said: “Last week was one of the best results while being a manager in non-league football, and I think we probably topped it this week.
“All the ugly things you associate with football – working hard, putting bodies on the line, playing out of position sometimes – the boys were superb to a man.”
The result moved Dulwich up to eighteenth in the table, with seventeen points from fifteen games.