Enfield Town V Dulwich Hamlet match report

Crooks wheeling away in celebration after converting penalty

Match Report

Enfield Town 2-2 Dulwich Hamlet

LATE PENALTY SALVAGES A POINT

A late Billy Crook penalty salvaged a point against Dulwich Hamlet this afternoon at the QE2.

Town could not have wanted a better start, than scoring almost straight from the kick off when Harry Ottaway picked up the ball at the top of the Dulwich box and slotted the ball coolly past Preston Edwards into the bottom corner of the net to the delight of Town fans.

 Town continued to play the ball well, with quick short passes up the field and Mickey Parcell was getting joy down his side, the only thing lacking was a killer pass at the end. Town were really well organised at the back for the opening 20 minutes, with Mark Kirby able to neutralise Dulwich balls in the air and spray the ball out well to the wings.

As the first half continued, Dulwich kept trying to launch the long ball to little effect and the game had very few chances, until around the 30^th minute when the ball was whipped in from the left hand side towards the back post where Carter was waiting to place his header back across Nathan McDonald into the bottom right.

 The Dulwich goal opened the game right up and it became very much end to end stuff, as Town went close when Samir Bihmoutine had a volley which went just over the bar, Dulwich then had a great chance when centre-back Nathan Green, almost ran the entire length of the field to only have his shot blocked by Percy Kiangebeni. The half ended with a final chance for Town when Dernell Wynter was able to break into the box and hit a fierce shot that was saved well by the keeper.

Half-time: Enfield Town 1 Dulwich Hamlet 1

Sub at HT- Kier Dickson off Nigel Neita on

Town again started the half well again creating a chance straight away but was well saved by the keeper. Town then had a free kick not too far out from the Dulwich box which created a chance when it was headed back into the mix by Kirby caused confusion amongst the defenders but was eventually cleared up field.

Dulwich’s change of bringing on Alex Teniola for Daniel Carter seemed to be working a treat as they were creating a lot more chances. Next came a bit of controversy when the referee awarded a penalty to Dulwich, which was calmly converted by Carew slightly after the hour mark.

After this Town Brought on Tyler Campbell for Mickey Purcell which added some much needed pace down the right and Campbell almost made an immediate impact when he had shot which was turned out for a corner by Edwards. Town also took Daniel Wynter off and brought on Tony Mendy.

The game became scrappy after this which played slightly into Dulwich’s favour as it gave them the chance to get outside Town to get in crosses but to no avail.

Town then had a penalty of their own when Neita was brought down in the box almost in slow motion. Billy Crook stepped up to take the penalty in front of the Town fans behind the goal, and it was duly converted into the bottom right corner to set up an exciting finish.

Town had a great chance to win the game when Mendy was sent through on goal but unfortunately his tame finish was easily gathered in by Edwards. There also an excellent run by Campbell at the end but his shot was too weak to trouble Edwards in net.

Full-time: Enfield Town 2 Dulwich Hamlet 2

In a post-match interview with Ottaway, he stated how the team felt on the result saying “we see this as a point gained rather than two dropped as we have to look for the positive result rather than the negative”. This result also extends Town’s unbeaten run to six games and Ottaway stated that “Hopefully our six game unbeaten run can continue but we need to take every game as it comes”. Which is truly the only way to go into the next game thinking. Hopefully this run won’t end and Ottaway can keep scoring.