Looking at Googlemaps, the ground seemed to be fairly close to the railway station and so it proved to be. After turning left and walking up a shallow hill I took another left turn towards Sainsbury's and found the ground was signposted straight ahead. The main entrance is next door to the supermarket while the turnstile entrance was next to a busy carwash. It reminded me of the changes at Weymouth and Dorchester where sale and redevelopment of land by supermarkets had paid for the development of a new ground.
I hadn't realised that Dulwich Hamlet had been a supplier of players to the full England team until I spotted a blue plaque on the wall commemorating Edgar Kail who was the last English nonleague player to represent his country back in the 1920's. It was good to see that the locals hadn't forgotten the man who only ever played domestically for his hometown club.
When the two teams came out I realised that this would be a first for me as I hadn't seen a team wearing a pink and black strip before. I also spotted one familiar face in the away team line up in Craig Bradshaw who used to play for Portsmouth and Dorchester.
Dulwich took the lead after 7 minutes when they won a corner. The ball was played with pace towards the near post and when a defender failed to clear the ball a scrambled shot was hit across the goal, past the keeper and in.
Neither team found it easy to get past the opposition's defence and there were few efforts on target. I was impressed with the Dulwich central defensive pairing who looked organised and committed to winning everything in the air. Dulwich preferred to play the ball around at the back and then launch longballs to their pacy forwards while Leatherhead preferred to push the ball into midfield to try and break down the Dulwich backline with runs.
Both teams had a banner behind the goal their team was attacking - Leatherhead opting for the traditional St George's flag and team name combo while Dulwich had a black-pink-black striped affair with "Up the Hamlet" in white lettering across it. Both of these banners were small fry in comparison with a huge banner being towed across the sky by a helicopter. The banner read "There's only one Freddie Flintoff" along with an advert for a deodorant company. Freddie wasn't on the pitch at Champion Hill - the England cricket team were playing the final Test of this year's Ashes series at the nearby Oval ground which will be Flintoff's last Test Match.
While Leatherhead had most of the possession it was Dulwich who came closest to scoring again in the 30th minute. A cross came in from the right and found a Dulwich head in the centre of the box, only for the ball to fly wide of the post. In the 37th minute Leatherhead also came close to scoring from a header. This time a close range header directly at the keeper was pushed up in the air and over the crossbar.
Leatherhead had won a number of corners that had amounted to little during the first half but this corner almost led to a goal - but for the opposition! When the corner came in it was cleared quickly and Dulwich took the ball to the other end of the pitch. Rather than play it into the box the player on the ball decided to hit a dipping shot to the far corner which Bradshaw managed to get his hands to and push it wide for a corner.
Both sets of players were vocal in encouraging, supporting and discussing play with their colleagues and the ball control and first touches displayed were much better than the majority of Wessex League teams. During the half time break I wandered back to the main stand seats to rest my feet and catch up with the scores from around the country. It was interesting to hear the announcer plug the club's 1893 club which apparently puts all proceeds towards the running of the club and then criticise the supporter's trust for running a similar scheme where the proceeds sit in a bank account. It certainly seemed to contradict the idea of cultivating good relations with your supporters!
Leatherhead started the second half brightly. In the first minute they earnt a corner after a header was well saved by the Dulwich keeper. The corner looked to have been played too long as it sailed over the penalty area but it was picked up by a Leatherhead player. He moved the ball into the box only to see a teammate beat the offside trap but put his shot well over the bar as he stretched to try and reach the ball.
Dulwich had a few attacks down the left hand side and managed to move the ball into the box on several occasions but couldn't find an end product. In the 65th minute they came close to adding to their lead. A great low shot had Bradshaw scrambling across his goal and he managed to get a hand in front of the ball to push it out. The ball zoomed out to the left hand of the box, giving a Dulwich player an opportunity to pass it into an open net. At the last moment a Leatherhead defender got back to put pressure onto him and the ball was hit wide.
Dulwich lost their influential central defender to an injury after 76 minutes and I wondered if that might give Leatherhead an opportunity to get back into the game. A minute later and they almost did from a corner. The ball was hit high to the backpost and the substitute didn't react quick enough to the danger allowing a Leatherhead player to head the ball on target. Luckily for the home team their keeper made a great reflex save to prevent the goal. The vocal Leatherhead fans behind the goal continued to get behind their team and make a lot of noise to show their support.
While the ball spent most of its time in the Dulwich half, the home team were able to clear their lines occasionally and from one of these clearances they should have been awarded a last minute penalty. As a Dulwich player ran into the box he was shoulder to shoulder with a Leatherhead player who tussled with him and clearly fouled the Dulwich player, bringing him to the ground inside the area. Despite being well positioned, the referee decided to ignore this foul and waved play on. It was now the turn of the home fans to be vocal and they were not happy!
Dulwich managed to create more chances in the last couple of minutes of injury time then they had during the rest of the half. They won the ball and held it up in the far corner before some good dribbling saw the ball on the edge of the 6 yard area with only the well postioned keeper to beat. Instead of playing a cross into the box to see if the ball could be deflected in the player paused and this allowed Leatherhead's keeper to win the ball. The ball was played up the pitch and Dulwich gave away a foul on the halfway line.
All of the Leatherhead players went into the penalty area apart from their keeper who was to take the free kick. It was now or never time as there were only seconds left to play. The keeper lofted the ball to the right of the area and for what seemed to be the first time in the game the ball was headed towards goal by a Leatherhead player rather than out of danger. The header was well placed down and flew across the goalmouth, over the line and into the side netting for the equaliser. The Leatherhead supporters went crazy and rushed down to the pitchside barrier to celebrate with their team.
The equaliser came with the last meaningful touch of the game. The referee blew for the restart and as soon as the ball was kicked blew again to signify the end of the game.
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