Dulwich Hamlet 1-2 Hampton and Richmond, Thursday 26th December 2019

Dulwich Hamlet 1-2 Hampton and Richmond, National League South, att. 2,089

Welcome to ...

It’s Boxing Day, which means no Barnsley FC for me – no trains.  So it’s off to my local side, Dulwich Hamlet, fresh from their 1^st win in 14, away at National League South bottom side Hungerford Town.  (There’s a reason they’re bottom.)  Dulwich start 5^th off bottom (it would have been 2^nd off bottom had they lost last Satdy).  They need points, fast.  Midtable Hampton offered an ideal chance, I would have thought.

One day they'll build a decent terrace.

It was raining hard, so I walked rather than biked it.  I got there an hour or so before kick-off, having left home despite the allure of Spurs-Brighton on Amazon Prime.  The Premier League will not rest until their dominance is total.  Mind, I still caught up with it in the Hamlet clubhouse.  Well, it was that or watch cricket, while I nursed my pint of Erdinger. 

The Main (Tommy Jovey) Stand.

The clubhouse has a cracking selection of ales, not to mention plenty of barstaff, so there was barely any wait.  Still, it was a bit warm in there so I decanted to the terrace with a 2^nd beer.  Given the paucity of decent terracing, I headed for the halfway line opposite the Main Stand.  Crowd numbers seemed down on previous.  Indeed, the attendance was barely over 2,000.  Was everyone away visiting family?  Was family visiting Dulwich?  Or was it the rain? 

The teams meet 'n' greet.

Pre-match there was a minute’s silence for a couple of recently-deceased Dulwich fans, and a touching announcement thanking one in particular for his part in the club’s recent transformation.

R.I.P. Ben Miller and Mishi Morath.

The game itself was entirely decided by the match officials.  In the 1^st half, Hampton scored, but the lineswoman’s flag had gone up straightaway.  Cue ref walks over, chats for over a minute, then points to the spot.  Goal.  I’m not sure what went on there.  The ref has overruled his assistant, who had a much better view.

Match action.

2^nd half, Hamlet equalise.  A free kick is curled in, misses everyone, and lands in the net.  The lineswoman puts her flag up again for offside.  No conversation with the ref this time, and the goal is chalked off.  I can only presume she thought it touched another a Dulwich player on the way in.  Cos the other alternative involves not knowing the rules.  Ho hum.

Behind the Hampton goal, 2nd half.

Dulwich then have a (soft) penalty appeal turned down, but it’s made worse as Hampton run up the other end and make it 0-2.  What can go wrong will go wrong.  There was still time for Dylan Kearney to pull one back with a free kick through the wall, but that was the least he could, given the hatful of chances he’d missed earlier.  Another late chance for Hamlet was charged down and that was that.  1-2 to the visitors.

The view from the far corner.

The Damage:
£12.96 ent (the 0.96 was ordering it online)
£2 prog

£5 beer (Erdinger, x3)
= £29.96

The Tunes:
Music has the Right to Children (Boards of Canada)

Pre-match panorama.

Hampton and Richmond Borough 3-1 Truro City, Wednesday 2nd May 2018

Hampton and Richmond Borough 3-1 Truro City, AET, National League South play-off (att. 922)

Welcome to ....

With the season nearly over, now’s the time to be visiting them there non-league sides. No Football League / Premiership to see (or very little) and the non-leagues over with save for the play-offs. So you get to visit somewhere interesting and still have a crowd. Tonite, it’s a Conference South play-off between Hampton and Richmond Borough FC and Truro City. An unfortunate draw for Truro, given there can’t be many longer trips at this level, and they’d only played their league game at the same venue 4 days before. A nightmare for the away fans too, as trains wouldn’t get you back till the next day and how extortionate would the fares be anyway? So I presume the 40 or so away fans either came by coach, car, or were west country exiles living in London.

The Big Match.

At this level the play-offs have one thing right; semi-finals are one leg and the team higher up the league have home advantage, a reward for the efforts of the previous 42 games. However, to increase the palaver, it’s 4th v 7th, 5th v 6th, the winners away to 3rd and 2nd respectively. I’m not sure I agree with a team in 7th being able to gain promotion through the play-off ‘lottery’, though I’spose it keeps half the division’s hopes up till the end.

The journey from Peckham was easy enough, one hour and one change (Clapham Junction). The ‘Beveree Stadium’ was walkable from Hampton station, and while I do enjoy living in the inner city, it made a pleasant change to walk past an actual village green. I also passed a couple of watering holes, but time was tight, I had a match to get to.

The teams raring to go.

The stadium was maybe a ten minute walk. Turn left out the station and keep going. The Beveree itself is a proper charmer, more stands than the old Manor Ground, Oxford. There was a covered terrace down one side, which finished abruptly on the halfway line, to be replaced by a small seated stand. Behind the far goal was a tiny end, with some cover, while the long side also had a cover 20 yards or so long, otherwise was mainly where some scaffolding supported the cameraman. Then, behind the goal you enter the stadium at, there’s a small cantilevered stand offering excellent views right behind the goal, with a small terrace next to it, in front of some kind of pavilion, a building housing the changing rooms downstairs and a viewing gallery above. Presumably this is where Hampton’s ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ hang out. I’ve heard it referred to as the ‘eyrie’ (and you’d understand why if you saw it).

The players emerge...while the eagle-eyed look down from the 'eyrie'.

The ground was busy, but not overly so. The crowd of 922 was larger than average, but possibly hampered by the live showing on BT of the Champions (and runners up, and runners up runners up…etc) League semi-final between Roma and Liverpool. I bought my match programme and sniffed out where to buy a beer. I wasn’t going to wait in a queue THAT long, so took my position on the terrace and took a few snaps.

1st half, I stood on the terrace.

The previous Saturday’s match had ended all-square, one-all, and this match was very even for the most part too. Truro took the lead when a cross was deflected in off the Hampton left back and captain…though it was later credited to a Truro player. My eyesight, or politeness? Or my poor memory? Either way, it put the away fans in good voice, ‘T-R-U-RO-OH’ being sung to the tune of ‘D.I.S.C.O.’

There must be easier ways to light a pitch...

Hampton equalised just after the half hour mark when a shot was blocked and fell to a forward to score 1st time, neat finish, which was great cos it legitimised chants ‘Beavers! Beavers!’ (it’s their nickname). Later, I heard a couple of chants ‘ooh to…ooh to be…ooh to be a BEAVER!’ to that chant by the Goon(er)s. Otherwise, there wasn’t much in the way of chanting beyond the visitors efforts. My favourite bit was a home fan asking his own captain ‘Are you going to blame the referee for THAT?’ after he’d sliced the ball out. I could tell why he was captain; he wouldn’t stop chuntering (mainly to the ref). Concentrate on your own game, sunbeam.

Small but perfectly formed...on the camera-stand side.

The second half forged plenty of half chances, but no goals. I was dreading this. What time were the last trains to London? I had time. Good. I also had time for a 2nd beer (I’d gone in the social club earlier and it was nice to see an efficient and quick serving system). A separate food queue was still too long (though I nabbed the last burger of the night on the way out…) I timed my beer nice in the 1st half too, seeing Milner’s comedy OG for Liverpool (for Roma?) on the big screen, while not missing any goals in this match.

The mish-mash of stands down one side.

Anyway, with penalties to look forward to, Hampton went and ruined it all by scoring two (both from the sub) in extra time, the second on the break as Truro piled men forward in search of an equaliser. An entertaining game had seen the Beavers triumph. Now who would take up the supporters’ club bloke’s offer ‘anyone for the coach to Chelmsford? Names here please.’

The Damage:
£12 ent
£4 Cobra (x2)
£0.90 peanuts
£2.50 prog
£3 burger
= £26.40

The Tunes:
Fabric 19 (Andy Weatherall)
Fabric 84 (Mathew Jonson)
All Melody (Nils Frahm)

side panorama...and that's not sunlight, it's floodlights.

Panorama from the stand behind the goal.

The view from the terrace.

A busy main stand.

Welcome to....(II)

The cameraman's 'stand'

Looking towards the eyrie.

The view from behind the goal.

Nevermind the corner flag...WTF is that hole?

That's me!