MATCH REPORTS 2006-07
 

NORTHWOOD RES. 0  DULWICH HAMLET RES. 3
 

The Woods went into this game needing a win to take them above their table-topping visitors but never really got into the match at any stage.

Central defenders Bradley Hewitt and Perry Norman made their comebacks from injuries, as did Dave Nolan in a central midfield position.

However, Norman's match lasted only twenty-five minutes before he hobbled off and by then the Woods were 1-0 down. Dulwich's young side looked good going forward and dominated for much of the match, forcing goalkeeper Shane O'Neill – a former Northwood Under 18s player making his first appearance of the season – into a number of fine stops.

However, he could do nothing to prevent the opening goal after 18 minutes when a sweeping move led to Daniel Jones firing home a cross from the right. Northwood battled to get back on terms, with Joe Sparrowhawk working hard in midfield, but the wide players rarely got forward into good positions, and the forward line of a returning Carl Hunt and debutant Nathan Sang never looked like a convincing partnership.

Nick Glenday replaced Norman at the back and things steadied a little, with the scoreline still 0-1 at half-time. There were to further changes made at half-time, with Martin Skipp and Jake O'Meara replacing Sang and Scott Purdue, but if anything Dulwich saw their dominance grow.

Hewitt cleared one off the line and then a run from the impressive Eniola Oluwa saw his effort blocked by O'Neill at the near post. Skipp had a rare strike at goal for the Woods after 62 minutes, but Dulwich increased their lead soon after when a free-kick from Vitor Tavares seemed to go through a ruck of players and straight in, though another player may have got the last touch.

Hunt went close to pulling a goal back when he brought down a pass from Skipp and fired just over the bar, but almost immediately substitute Claudio De Almeida scored a third goal for the visitors. From then on it was a matter of damage limitation, with just a series of free-kicks and corners being the only occasions that the Woods threatened to pull anything back.