Holmesdale 0-4 Dulwich Hamlet - We're trying to finish higher than we did last year, says Collier

HOLMESDALE  0-4  DULWICH HAMLET
Pre-Season Friendly
Monday 4^th August 2014
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakley Road

HOLMESDALE player-manager John-Paul Collier says he’s without three central defenders for their Southern Counties East Football League opener against Lingfield on Saturday.

John Wilfort was forced off with a jarred knee inside the opening 24 minutes of their 4-0 home defeat to an impressive and young Dulwich Hamlet side tonight.

By the time that Wilfort hobbled off, the Ryman Premier League visitors were already 2-0 up, courtesy of two brilliant 35-yard strikes from midfielder Xavier Vidal, 19.

Holmesdale made eight more changes on the hour and Dulwich Hamlet went on to seal a comfortable victory through two more quality strikes from substitutes Abdul Mansaray and Emmanuel Stevens. 

“Good run-out. We’ve played a very good side,” said Collier, 27.

“Most of them was their youth team but you can see their lads are above my lads.  A lot of my boys are similar age but they showed their class and we can take a lot from that game really and learn from it.”

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose, 37, was very complimentary towards the Bromley-based club, who finished in the top ten last season.

He said: “Very good exercise.  I like coming to visit Holmesdale because they always have a young, vibrant team.  They try and pass the ball and they play good, progressive football and the scoreline belies I think some of their performance because I thought they were very good and refreshing at times.

“The caused us problems tactically and they make us challenge our boys in terms of how to defend and how to get the football back so it’s always positive here.

“I thought the boys grew as the game went on and I was happy that they started to control the game and assert themselves on the game, which was good.”

Dulwich Hamlet goalkeeper Phil Wilson made a comfortable catch as Holmesdale midfielder Ciro Donadio went for goal with a right-footed drive from 30-yards inside the opening three minutes.

Holmesdale goalkeeper Alex Hyde was called into action within a minute as he dived to his left to palm away Ashley Robinson’s right-footed drive from 30-yards after Vidal’s free-kick into the box was headed clear.

Rose said: “He’s a danger. I’d like him to be a bit more positive and have a few more shots and crosses because he has the quality to do that because when he does shoot, he always hits the target.”

But Dulwich Hamlet scored the first of four quality goals, after ten minutes.

Robinson and then Fabian Reid played the ball in from the left and Vidal was given time and space to drill an excellent right-footed shot into the top left-hand corner from 35-yards, leaving Hyde rooted to the spot.

Rose said: “Not surprised there! He’s been in and around our first team for eighteen months now and he’s done that on numerous occasions.  He still has parts of his game that needs to be developed but that part of his game is very good.

“He has an eye for goal, a good box-to-box midfielder.  There’s still parts of his game that needs to develop, as long as he keeps listening and learning I’m sure he will get that.”

Collier said: “Their first two goals were long distance shots.  That by no means was that the only way they were going to score.  They created a lot of chances.  They kept possession really, really well. It just so happened with the two goals that they got were from distance.  They moved the ball well, they got the space and they took the shots when they needed to and two great strikes for their 2-0 lead at half-time.”

Collier, who played for the first hour in midfield, admitted there was a clear two league difference between the two sides.

“It’s interesting to play. It’s exciting for our young boys,” he said.

“Coaching these boys a very similar to what the Dulwich lads do and going in at half-time and sort of saying that’s how it’s executed and that’s how we’re looking to progress and that’s the level I want my boys to get to.

“We kept the ball well in our half, just didn’t progress in their third as much as I liked but that’s through their pressing that they prevented us from doing that.”

Mark Axel once again failed to man-mark Vidal, who exactly five minutes later repeated the feat.

The talented midfielder drilled another right-footed shot from 35-yards, which zipped off the turf past the diving keeper and nestled into the bottom left-hand corner.

Rose said: “Very good effort.  Pretty difficult for the goalkeeper. It bounces just in front of the keeper so they’re always difficult as we know.  Good strike, made the game a little bit comfortable for us.”

Collier admitted Hyde could have stopped the goal.

“I think it was the second that Alex should have done better with. He freely admitted himself but again two strikes from distance.

“A lot of managers would be naive and say you can stop them and get closer to the ball. Yes, you can but when their keeping the ball so well and you’re chasing and they get in little pockets in between the lines and they get on the ball in those areas it’s very difficult to stop that.”

Halfway through the half, Emiliano Hysi played the ball inside to lone striker Kareem Boyle, who hit a right-footed drive over the Holmesdale crossbar.

Collier revealed Wilfort will join fellow central defenders Lyndsey Prescott-Kerr and Marc Cumberbatch on the sidelines on Saturday.

“That’s an absolute killer for us. It looks like he’s completely jarred his knee, which puts us in a bad position,” said Collier.

“Marc Cumberbatch, my assistant manager, is out for the first three games (through suspension).  John Wilfort looks like he’s out. Lyndsey Prescott-Kerr has also got an injury. There could be a few changes for our first league game on Saturday.

“We’ve got three or four young centre halves that will come in and they’ll have to step-up to the plate straight away. We’ll have no worried about doing that either.”

Good play down the right from Hysi saw him ride Zak Henry’s sliding challenge before releasing winger Nigel Neita, who whipped in a cross which sailed over Hyde’s head and skimmed the top of the crossbar and behind for a goal-kick.

Vidal was denied a hat-trick after dancing past a number of yellow-shirted defenders but Hyde came to the rescue, smothering the ball from the midfielder’s feet on the edge of his six-yard box.

Rose was full of praise for two-goal Vidal.

“He did well. He was a driving force in the team today.  No disrespect to Holmesdale, he’s proven at our level. It was just an opportunity for him to get a game. He definitely used it well.”

Vidal played a free-kick short to Robinson, who was given freedom to drill another 35-yarder, which curled and bounced off Hyde’s body and towards safety.

But Holmesdale – who lacked quality in the final third – should have pulled a goal back just before the break.

Impressive left-back Ricardo Campbell played a sublime diagonal ball to pick out the sprinting right-back Daniel Stewart, who played the ball inside to Collier and then Donadio, who clipped the ball over to the unmarked Benga Ogunese, who lacked composure and sliced his volley harmlessly wide of the post.

Collier said: “I think that was a breakaway. We moved the ball really, really well, progressed down the left, the ball got switched across and he probably could have taken a touch to be fair to the kid. 

“He’s got a great strike on him. He’s gone for it first time and completely scuffed his lines but he’ll learn from that.

“A bit of composure, take a touch and with his technique, we could have got a goal there.”

Rose made a couple of changes at the interval and used his entire sixteen-man squad for their penultimate pre-season friendly, the last one being at home to bitter-rivals Tooting & Mitcham United on Tuesday night.

Some of Dulwich Hamlet’s shooting from distance was of a high quality.

Hyde was forced to move to his left to palm away Robinson’s right-footed curler after he cut in from the left after receiving Vidal’s pass in the 48^th minute.

Holmesdale hit Dulwich Hamlet on the break through Wilfort’s replacement Lee Prescott before he played in Nick Whybrow, who cut in from the left and his right-footed angled drive was comfortably saved by Wilson.

Collier said: “Anywhere Nick can pick the ball up and have a shot and we want him to do that. He’s our number 10. We play him in the hole, we play him either wing, anywhere he can get on the ball to take shots at goal and that’s what we ask him to do. He’s scored many goals last season like that.  Tonight it didn’t work out for him.”

A cut-back from Dulwich Hamlet substitute Mansaray gave Vidal a chance, which he cracked over before Campbell cut the ball back to Whybrow, who was denied again by the Hamlet stopper.

Collier explained why he made eight changes on the hour-mark.

He said: “Pretty much baring two or three players from that starting eleven that we put out, that was probably our strongest eleven that we’ve got.

“For the last 30 minutes on the hour mark it was to give a lot of the fringe players that haven’t been playing so much a chance to get out there so it was almost like two different teams and they conducted themselves really well.

“They only lost by two goals in that half-an-hour. They worked hard and it was a good run-out for them.”

Collier finished the sentence by using the most used quote of this pre-season, “It’s just about getting everyone minutes tonight.”

Rose added: “You wouldn’t deny them the opportunity to play either. It’s what their manager said he wanted to do so it’s fine. It does disrupt the game but we’re not complaining.  At the end of the day we got what we needed out of the game anyway.”

Mansaray reached the by-line before cutting the ball back to Shawn McCoulsky, who drove his shot narrowly past the near post.

But Holmesdale’s player-assistant manager Marc Cumberbatch, 30, squandered an excellent chance to pull a goal back in the 68^th minute.

Rob Depeaser floated a free-kick towards the far post where Cumberbatch came up from the back and directed his towering header across goal and past the far post.

“He will start scoring again Cumbers,” said Collier. “He’s played at a lot higher level (Dover Athletic).  There’s been a lot of banter last season about him not scoring and he should be scoring that all day long. He knows that.

“He’s headed it wide. At least he’s getting in those positions again and he will start scoring, especially in the position he plays.

“He’s a brilliant player.  Cumbers is our main player in our team. Between him and Wilfort they captain the side. Cumbers doesn’t shut up for the whole game. Everyone looks up to him and when he’s not there we do miss him and we haven’t got him for the first three games.”

Holmesdale’s substitute goalkeeper Jack Yelett made a comfortable save to deny Robinson scoring with a right-footed free-kick from 25-yards.

But the sixteen-year-old goalkeeper could not stop Dulwich Hamlet scoring their third goal with eighteen minutes remaining.

Vidal released Mansaray through on goal, who drilled a swerving right-footed screamer from 25-yards, which the keeper helped into the roof of the net.

Rose hailed another fine strike from his side.

“He’s got that about him, Abdul.  Sometimes when he shoots it sometimes goes a million feet over the bar or it ends up where it did today, the roof of the net so consistency is what we need from him but he’s definitely got that and we encourage him to do more.”

Collier said: “Jack’s literally just turned sixteen. He’s made a good save from a free-kick, he couldn’t get to that one. He got his hand on it, couldn’t quite keep it out.  He’s done well.

“Again, a lot of boys that played in that last half-hour, they’re anything from a sixteen-year-old goalkeeper to an eighteen-year-old striker or wingers. They’re all kids out there. It was only Cumbers, the centre half, who is 30!”

Vidal was denied a hat-trick when his right-footed curling free-kick was well blocked by Yelett to his left and McCoulsky somehow hooked his right-footed volley over the bar.

Rose said: “It’s unfortunate for young Shawn. He done well to follow up the rebound.

“He’s a young, youth team player we have high hopes for.  He’s only seventeen so we believe that he’s on the right curve.  It was unfortunate but he done the right thing by being at the right place at the right time.”

Collier added: “He should have scored! The lad hit a great strike and it’s moved in the air. I said to the young boy he’s made a good stop and we’ve got to get to the knock down. Their lad did but somehow managed to kick the ball over. I’m not sure how – but he did!”

The Hamlet wrapped up the victory in the final four minutes with another peach of a goal.

Stevens got to the right by-line and drilled another excellent shot with his right-boot, which screamed across Yelett and rocketed into the top far corner.

Rose said: “Emmanuel has been with us for three years but unfortunately he’s suffered really bad injuries and he’s starting to get stronger now and we’re hoping we can get him fit to contribute for us this season as well. He’s a good lad and he always offered a little bit something different.”

Collier added: “All four of their goals are great strikes but it’s through consistent playing and playing to a system that they got into those areas for those chances.

“It wasn’t four long shots and they happened to score them. They’ve produced those chances time after time and they were the four that they took.  Good quality players take their chances and that’s what they did!”

Holmesdale pressed for a consolation goal and Campbell almost capped off a fine display with a late goal.

The ball came to the left-back, who drilled his left-footed angled drive towards goal from 25-yards, but Wilson – playing 90 minutes after returning from holiday -  made a smart low save to his right.

Rose said: “We know what Phil’s about. He’s very dependable. He’s been around us for three or four years now. Another dependable display, looks in good nick as well, so we’re happy for him.”

Collier knows his club are not on the same levels as Dulwich Hamlet but he can take positives from tonight’s defeat.

“It’s exactly what we’re working towards. I’m not disillusioned by any of that. In fact as a young manager that’s exactly what I’m trying to aspire to.

“We’ve had the boys for one season now. We’ve got no budget. We finished midtable last season in tenth-position, which is a good season for us as a team with the style of football that we play.

“This year is about pushing on and doing well again and trying to finish higher than we did last year.

“There’s not point worrying, thinking oh my God we should be closer to Dulwich, no, not at all.  We’ve got many years before we can get a side that will be as close and give them a run.”

Rose hinted that some of his players may be loaned out to Southern Counties East Football League clubs to gain valuable experience.

“We’ve got a few lads who are good enough to start in our team. We’ve got a lot of development players, under 21s and a few under 18s as well, good under 18s. We think it’s important that they play at this level. It’s a bit rough and tumble for them from youth football so it’s good.  It’s a reality check so if they are needed they are a little bit aware of what they’ve got to face.”

Holmesdale: Alex Hyde (Jack Yelett 60), Daniel Stewart (Leke Somule 60), Ricardo Campbell, Ciro Donadio (Mert Varli 60), John Wilfort (Lee Prescott 24), Marc Cumberbatch, Zak Henry (Rob Depeaser 60), Mark Axel (Jordan Green 60), Benga Ogunese (Brett Cummings 60), Nick Whybrow (Romario Hart 60), John-Paul Collier (Craig Dwyer 60).
Sub: Steven Hollis

Booked: Zak Henry 58

Dulwich Hamlet: Phil Wilson, Brandon Hobbs (Lewis Gonsalves 46), Connor Okus, Fabian Reid (Emmanuel Stevens 60), Sean Mason, Suliaman Bangura, Nigel Neita (Abdul Mansaray 46), Xavier Vidal, Kareem Boyle (Shawn McCoulsky 65), Emiliano Hysi, Ashley Robinson (Tre Zailor 73).

Goals: Xavier Vidal 10, 15, Abdul Mansaray 72, Emmanuel Stevens 60

Attendance: 50
Referee: Mr Valentine Anekwe (Bromley)
Assistants: Mr Damon Colvin (Bromley) & Mr Adam Back (Sidcup)