Did He Really Mean It?

So, the first qualifying round and the first steps on our FA Cup journey.

The afternoon started in a nearby pub watching Liverpool “take on” Portsmouth, an ultimately dull match which we hoped wouldn’t be a precursor for a similarly dull match at Champion Hill, home of Dulwich Hamlet FC, our first team to be followed in the competition. Our initial team for this fixture was myself, Tom, Joe & Bamos (joined by Eddie partway through the first half).

^{(We got this picture taken by a woman handing out flyers for the football clubs happy hour deals during the week, she had obviously made the most of these in the past as despite her best efforts she couldn’t get the whole “Dulwich Hamlet FC” in the photo as we asked, oh well)}

So we took up our place in the small stand around the halfway line, we’re not ones for the frivolities of seating, prawn sandwiches and dancing girls bring you drinks that are found in the main stand (actually, Joe is, but thats another story), and nervously awaited kick off.

The kick-off style employed by Dulwich was one of those ridiculous ones typically seen in the lower leagues, belting the ball high towards one of the flanks in the hope that the winger might get onto it in time or make the best of a poor clearance and cause some problems. As is often the case this rarely occurs, but Dulwich tried it with every single one of their restarts all the same. Initial encounters were scrappy but it was Deal who were first to offer some ability in going forward and it was they who opened the scoring with a fine shot from the edge of the area.

It was late in the first half that Dulwich started to produce anything resembling an attack and a shot across the six yard box by Anton Innocent struck the back of the diving keeper and landed in the net. Did He Really Mean It? Who knows, but it was 1-1. Dulwich struck again soon afterwards on the stroke of half time following another Innocent looking cross which was headed back across goal, with Josh Davidson deflecting it past his own keeper for an own goal.

So with it being 2-1 to Dulwich at half time we went off in search of refreshments, I enjoyed a rather splendid bacon baguette and some tea while some beers were also purchased from the rather nice club bar.

The introduction of the mighty Phil “Phil” Williams at half time certainly bolstered Dulwich’s attacking options, offering speed down the left hand side, but that didn’t help much when Henry Darko impressively missed an open goal after rounding the keeper in the opening attack of the half. Deal made the most of this let off as they headed up the other end and equalised. The rest of the half was end to end as both sides pressed for a winner, with Dulwich the more entertaining thanks to the exploits of Phil and they were unlucky with a couple of offside decisions, but there was no breakthrough for either side, much to our disappointment as that means we’re faced with attempting a trip to Deal on a Tuesday night, by public transport. Mission Impossible begins here.

^{(Dulwich left to contemplate a trip to Deal on Tuesday night, as were we)}