MARK Dacey was “furious” with the display as Dulwich Hamlet lost 1-0 to Wingate & Finchley in the Isthmian League Premier Division at Maurice Rebak Stadium at the weekend.
Anointed Chukwu scored the only goal of the game in the 65th minute.
Dulwich have won their first two games at home this season but have lost both on the road.
“I wouldn’t even go that far [about a positive first half] and I think you’ll see from my tone I am not happy,” Dacey told Hamlet TV. “A lot of that will stay in-house and what we just spoke to the boys about.
“But the be-all and end-all with football is you can do all this stuff about don’t be too high, don’t be too low – sometimes it’s just going to catch you. And for me, it’s the manner in which we get beat. The Chatham defeat is on me, with the way that we went about things. I’m not taking a performance like that today.
“I’ve said it to you countless times, if we’re going to do it, then we’re going to do it our way. When that happens, you can take getting beaten.
“Not too much in the second half. We had some really good chances first half to have put ourselves, with probably not great momentum, 1-0 up. The fact of the matter is we didn’t deserve anything, and as much as I’m furious about it, it is what it is.
“If we want to achieve what we want to achieve this year, that can’t happen. So the boys have to bounce themselves back going into Three Bridges next week.
“It’s just a massive opportunity missed to keep ourselves in it and it doesn’t bother me that we’re only four games in. We’re two wins, two losses – it’s not acceptable for a club at this stature to be doing that.
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“Definitely in spells, we looked really good. They didn’t stop us from doing anything. We were our own worst enemy. For 65 minutes, maybe even longer than that, none of them warranted being on the pitch.”
The Hamlet face a Three Bridges side that have lost all four league games so far this season.
Dacey wanted to see a response in training this week.
He said: “I’ve got no problem with us being arrogant and confident, but if you can’t back it up on a weekly basis then it doesn’t mean anything. We will prep the same as what we always do. They will be on it like they always are. But a bounce back’s got to be in here. It has to hurt sometimes.”
Kick-off at Champion Hill this Saturday is at 3pm.
Meanwhile, Dulwich have been drawn against East Grinstead Town of the Southern Combination Premier Division – two tiers below them – in first qualifying round of the FA Cup at Champion Hill on September 5.
