Dulwich Hamlet 2-3 Peterborough United - I was excited to play on this pitch again in front of the fans against my old manager and team-mates, says Erhun Oztumer

Dulwich Hamlet 2 – 3 Peterborough United
Location	Champion Hill Stadium, Dog Kennel Hill, Edgar Kail Way, East Dulwich, London SE22 8BD
Kickoff	08/07/2015 19:45

DULWICH HAMLET  2-3  PETERBOROUGH UNITED
Pre-Season Friendly
Wednesday 8th July 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Champion Hill Stadium

PETERBOROUGH UNITED midfielder Erhun Oztumer says he was feeling excited to play against his former club Dulwich Hamlet for the first time since his move to London Road.
 

Dulwich Hamlet went into their opening pre-season friendly on the back of four training sessions and they stunned their full-time opponents by scoring a sixth minute goal through winger Nyren Clunis.

Peterborough United responded within seconds through impressive winger Harry Anderson, 18.

The Ryman Premier League hosts regained the lead for a second time through central defender Matt Drage, before Peterborough United made nine changes after 58 minutes and dominated for the rest of the game.

Dulwich Hamlet keeper Phil Wilson was back to his best making a string of fine saves but he couldn’t prevent Joe Gormley netting his first goal for Peterborough United, before Jon Taylor sealed a late deserved victory.

With Gavin Rose unavailable as he was in his office underneath the stand, assistant manager Junior Kadi, 36, took over post-match media duties.

“Well pre-season results aren’t really important,” he said.

“It’s about players’ fitness levels and try to implement some of the things we work on in training.

“Results are not really crucial at this stage. It’s mainly about fitness, it’s about minutes, not over-doing it, but making sure people do the right minutes.”

Peterborough United enjoyed plenty of possession but Dulwich Hamlet scored a trademark goal with five minutes and 29 seconds on the clock.

The Hamlet played an impressive one-touch attack involving Albert Jarrett, Damian Scannell and Jarrett, who swept the ball into the penalty area where Jacob Erskine set up Clunis to stroke home a first time left-footed shot past Henrich Ravas from eight-yards.

Kadi said: “We’ve had four (training sessions before tonight), even that game now was our fifth session back, so yes (it was) not too bad.

“We’ve been working on bits and pieces but nothing too intense, just getting the boys legs going and stuff like that. They’re (the players involved in the move) players of quality so it’s to be expected.”

Oztumer won his side a corner when he skipped past Wilson and his shot from a tight angle was put behind by debutant right-back Mitchell Nelson.

Speaking about the former Margate defender, Kadi said: “Mitchell done really well. He’s been out for a year last year injured but we’ve known Mitchell a long time and if we can keep him off the treatment table, I think he will be a good acquisition for us.”

Oztumer cut the resulting corner back to Anderson, who capped off an impressive performance by drilling his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from 12-yards.

Kadi said: “It was a good strike. I think we were a little bit slow to switch on to that but you can’t take nothing away. It was a good strike, a good goal.

“I thought he looked a threat driving forward, good pace, good technique, he looked a decent player.”

Dulwich Hamlet were sloppy from Peterborough’s corners and Oztumer cut another corner back to winger Anderson and the pair exchanged a couple of passes together before Anderson’s angled drive flashed across Wilson and was stopped on the line by Ashley Carew on the far post.

Erskine played a pass into Scannell, but the winger flashed his left-footed drive past the post from 22-yards.

Danny Waldren, who was making his Dulwich Hamlet debut as captain of the first half side, gifted the ball to Kane Ferdinand who took the ball on before Jack Friend’s clever dink drifted across Wilson and past the far post.

Waldren was a fans’ favourite with Vanarama Conference South champions Bromley last season and it was a shock when Mark Goldberg released him during the summer.

Kadi said: “Danny’s a good guy, good character, good player and he’s fitted in with all the boys, so far so good.”

Shaun Brisley hit a long ball out of defence and a mistake from Hamlet central defender Drage let in striker Johnny Edwards, but he dragged his shot across Wilson and past the far post.

The first half was an entertaining affair for the 737 fans watching the game and Drage almost headed the hosts into the lead after 23 minutes.

Albert Jarrett whipped in a lovely free-kick with his left-foot from the right channel and Drage beat keeper Ravas to the ball in the air but planted his header over the bar.

Wilson made a near post save as Peterborough United created another chance on the half-hour mark.

Ferdinand played the ball into Edwards, who was tackled by Ethan Pinnock on the edge of the Dulwich box. The loose ball was picked up by Oztumer, his shot deflecting off Nelson and looping up into Wilson’s hands for a comfortable catch.

Former Gillingham midfielder, Jack Payne, 23, picked up a loose ball and ran forward before flashing his right-footed drive wide of the Hamlet goal from 30-yards.

Jarrett was causing Peterborough’s unnamed left-back all sorts of problems with his skill and trickery and the 30-year-old centred low for Erskine, who flicked his shot rolling past the far post.

Kadi added: “Albert has been struggling with injuries over the past couple of years, so hopefully if we can have a fit Albert and he stays fit, touch wood, we’ve got a decent player on our hands.”

Dulwich Hamlet certainly impressed during the first half and deserved to go into half-time on level terms.

Rose made eight changes at the break, leaving on Wilson, Drage and Erskine and his side stunned Peterborough Untied for a second time by taking a second lead after only 100 seconds into the second half.

Kevin James floated in a free-kick from the right flank and Drage rose to plant his hanging header across goalkeeper Ravas into the far corner.

“It was a good delivery from Kev,” said Kadi.

“Kev’s got good delivery at set-pieces and a good header from Dragey. It was a good ball in the right area and he’s got on the end of it and done really well. It was a good header planted across the keeper.

“You’re pleased obviously because you’re scoring and it was a set-piece but I don’t want to iterate the result really doesn’t matter at this stage. It’s just about the fitness and making sure no one gets injured and players’ get their minutes we’ve allocated them.”

Dulwich Hamlet were to be denied a third after impressive play down the right involving right-back Alaistair Gordon and Wilson Carvalho, whose right-footed angled drive brought Ravas’ best save of the night, diving high to his right to deny the winger.

A poor clearance from Wilson went straight at Tobi Adebayo-Rawling’s feet and he played the ball into Edwards inside the box, but the Hamlet keeper made amends for his error to smother the ball at the striker’s feet.

Peterborough United missed a gilt-edged chance in the 53rd minute following a pacy run from Anderson.

He cut the ball back but Edwards swept his shot across Wilson and past the far post from eight-yards.

Oztumer was denied a dream goal on his return to Champion Hill when he was fed the ball by Edwards and saw Wilson off his line but his left-footed 35-yard shot which was sailing towards the roof of the net was expertly tipped over the bar by the keeper’s outstretched right hand.

“It’s nice to see him playing in a professional environment, that’s where he deserves to be,” Kadi said of Oztumer.

“He’s is a very good player, we all know the talent he’s got, so it’s nice to see him playing at Champion Hill again.”

Peterborough United boss Dave Robertson made nine changes after 58 minutes and they started to up the tempo and dominated the rest of this entertaining encounter.

Connor Washington’s cut back was driven towards goal by fellow substitute Gormley, but Wilson made the first of his great saves by making the block and seeing the ball loop onto the top of the crossbar and behind.

But Wilson was beaten in the 61st minute when Marcus Maddison’s cross from the left was drilled into the bottom right-hand corner first time by Gormley.

Kadi said: “I think the team that came on for the last half-an-hour for them was probably prominently their senior team and we kind of put our kids on and there was a bit of a David-v-Goliath but I think it’s great experience for our young kids playing against seasoned professionals. It’s really good for them. It’s only going to stand them in good stead.”

Dulwich Hamlet did create an opening near to the halfway point when Joshua Fernandes found Carvalho, whose right-footed shot curled over the bar from 25-yards.

Wilson did receive two slices of luck when the post saved him, firstly from Gormely’s header, which bounced off the right-hand post, with his Dulwich Hamlet team-mates hanging on.

Maddison’s fine pass released Washington through on goal, who powered his right-footed drive against the top of the inside of the near post from fifteen-yards with 18 minutes remaining.

Wilson denied Washington with a fine block as he swiftly advanced off his line, as the vocal home fans gave their side good support to make it a FA Cup tie atmosphere, very unlike pre-season.

Wilson pulled off another great save inside the final ten minutes when he got down low to his right to deny Maddison scoring with a left-footed drive, the ball caressing the top of the crossbar.

“Big Phil’s been with us a few years now, he’s dependable, reliable and he’s a really, really good goalkeeper and really consistent,” added Kadi.

Peterborough United continued to press for a deserved winner and Wilson used his legs to deny Washington as he charged straight through the heart of the Dulwich defence.

But Peterborough Untied found a way past resilient Wilson inside the final two minutes.

Washington played a delightful ball out to Gormley, who calmly rounded Wilson and centred for Taylor, who took a touch before slamming his shot into the back of the net.

Kadi said: “I don’t really remember too much off it. They had a few good chances in the second half to be fair, so they probably deserved a win.”

Kadi admitted playing a League One outfit in pre-season friendly will help his squad ahead of their Ryman Premier League campaign.

“The boys equipped themselves very well so it’s always good to have a professional outfit coming down part of the Erhun deal and they brought down a strong team, (it was) quite a decent crowd as well so I thought it was a good night all round.

“It was a great turnout, people coming down to see Erhun.”

Dulwich Hamlet’s next game is against Hamburg outfit Altonaer on Saturday (18:00).

Kadi said: “I know there’s a bit of an affinity between the two sets of supporters, the two clubs. It should be good, it should be fun.”

The Hamlet finished in fourth-place in the Ryman Premier League last season and lost out to promoted side Margate in a high-quality play-off semi-final.

When asked whether he has got over their defeat at Hartsdown Park, Kadi replied: “Yes, it’s football, isn’t it? Only two teams can go up. Our objective is to improve on the year before and hopefully we can improve again this year.

“We always try and improve from the season before, which we’ve done all the time we’ve been here. Again, that will be our main target, try to improve on last year.

“We’ll try and do the best as we can and we’ll go from there.”

Oztumer, meanwhile, appreciated his heroes welcome upon his return to the club.

The 24-year-old midfield wizard made a total of 78 appearances, scoring 49 goals for Hamlet between 2012-2014.

Oztumer was named Peterborough skipper for the 58 minutes he was on the pitch and before the game he pulled out the two winners of Dulwich Hamlet’s sponsorship draw.

“I was excited to play on this pitch again in front of the fans against my old manager and team-mates,” he said.

“It was a nice gesture from them. It just shows how much they appreciated me and they’re happy for me that I’ve moved on.

“I keep in touch with Gavin, we talk a lot and it was nice to play against them. It was a good game. It was a hard game and I enjoyed it.”

When asked about turning professional, Oztumer said: “This is my dream job. This is what I’ve been wanting to do all my life.  I’m just happy that I’m doing it every day, football, training. It’s something that I love so hopefully I can keep on doing it.”

Oztumer’s name was sung on the terraces and is loved by the Champion Hill faithful.

“I love them too. It’s like I’ve done my bit on the pitch and they’ve done it off the pitch and we’ve both progressed so I’m just happy for the fans and I really enjoyed it today.”

Dulwich Hamlet: Phil Wilson, Mitchell Nelson (Alastair Gordon 46), Kristian Campbell (Daniel Okojie 46), Danny Waldren (Jordan Hibbert 46), Matt Drage (Kristian Campbell 62), Ethan Pinnock (Sean Mason 46), Nyren Clunis (Toby Coker 46), Ashley Carew (Kevin James 46), Jacob Erskine (Dean Lodge 62), Damian Scannell (Joshua Fernandes 46), Albert Jarrett (Wilson Caravalho 46).

Goals: Nyren Clunis 6, Matt Drage 47

Peterborough United: Henrich Ravas (Keano Robinson 58), Tobi Adebayo-Rawling (Kjosi Ntlme 58), Trialist (Ricardo Santos 58), Kane Ferdinand (Michael Smith 58), Bradley Maslen-Jones (Trialist, Harry Anderson 84), Shaun Brisley (Trialist), Harry Anderson (Marcus Maddison 58), Jack Payne (Connor Washington), Jack Friend (Joe Gormley 58), Erhun Oztumer (Jon Taylor 58).

Goals: Harry Anderson 9, Joe Gormley 61, Jon Taylor 88

Attendance: 737
Referee: Mr Charles Breakspear (Walton-on-Thames, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Garry Maskell (Greenwich, London SE10) & Mr Ryan Whitaker (Bexleyheath)

This match report is dedicated in the memory of footballer Junior Dian, who tragically lost his life while playing for Tonbridge Angels in a pre-season friendly at Whyteleafe the previous evening. My condolences go out to his family and friends during this devastating time. Rest in Peace Junior.