Dulwich Hamlet boss Rose: Referee had huge influence on outcome of Saturday’s match

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Dulwich Hamlet lost 3-1 to Chelmsford Town on Saturday – with the visitors’ goals all netted by players with South London connections.

Former AFC Wimbledon midfielder Chris Whelpdale scored twice with on-loan Charlton winger Mikhail Kennedy also hitting the back of the net.

Nathan Green had quickly cancelled out Whelpdale’s fourth-minute opener but the hosts saw centre-back Michael Chambers dismissed for two bookable offences.

It stretched Dulwich’s winless run in National League South to six matches.

Dulwich boss Gavin Rose said: “He [the referee] has had a massive influence in the game.

“Even before the sending off he was booking our players. If he deemed them to be fouls then fair enough, but the other team were doing exactly the same ones and getting away with it.

“If he referees consistently then both teams can argue how soft he has been. But we ended up losing Michael and there full-backs made the same fouls and got one yellow card.

“The referee gave no real chance of our players surviving. As soon as you go down to 10 men with 60 minutes to go it is inevitable the team with 11 will have the advantage. It was just a non-contest.

“None of the fouls on both sides were bad. He just mis-managed the game. Really the game swung
because of the referee.

“At 11 v 11 the two teams were well-matched. My boys deserve credit because we’ve had a run of bad results and were playing a team right up there down to 10 men.

“They gave a lot of effort and commitment, with some really good play as well.

“Even for their second goal they fouled our left-back Nathan Mavila. His shirt was being tugged and the linesman missed it.”

Bromley’s hopes of closing the gap on the National League top-10 was dealt a blow after a 1-0 home reverse to Eastleigh. Andrew Boyce scored in the 88th minute.

Tooting & Mitcham are seven points adrift of the Isthmian League South Central Division play-offs after a 2-1 win at Hertford Town.

The Terrors do have a match in hand on seven of the eight sides above them in the standings.

Stefan Ilic put them ahead before Ruben Soares-Junior levelled with 20 minutes to go. But Sol Patterson-Bohner struck 12 minutes from time at Hertingfordbury Park.

Second-placed Fisher kept the pressure on SCEFL Premier Division leaders Corinthian as they won 3-0 at home to Rusthall.

Trey Small scored twice for the Fish with Tunde Aderonmu also notching.

AFC Croydon tossed away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 at home to Tunbridge Wells. Dominic Ogun, Joe Nwoko and Jordan Greaves had all netted inside the opening hour before the visitors fought back.

Luke Medley’s penalty opened the scoring for Croydon but they went down 2-1 to Canterbury City.

George Latham snagged a brace with Tom Scorer also on target in Kennington’s 3-1 victory over Kent Football United in the First Division.

Forest Hill Park drew 0-0 with Snodland Town.

Fred Agyemang and Noble Ramsey scored second-half goals as Lewisham Borough triumphed 2-1 at Phoenix Reserves.

Photos by Keith Gillard