I thought we were always up against it to get this game on, says Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose

MAIDSTONE UNITED manager Jay Saunders says match referee Oleksandr Saliy made the correct decision to call off their top-of-the-table clash at Dulwich Hamlet 85 minutes before the kick-off.



The Stones arrived at Champion Hill sitting at the summit of the Ryman League Division One South table on 48 points from 23 games – the same record as Dulwich Hamlet, who have won a game more.

The entire Ryman Football League was wiped out due to the big freeze and every single game involving Kent sides were called off either yesterday or this morning.

But around 25 volunteers arrived at Champion Hill Stadium at eight o’clock in the morning and worked tirelessly to clear snow away from the playing surface and to make the terraces safe.

The match passed the 10:30am pitch inspection but groundstaff and volunteers continued to work on problem areas of the pitch, the middle of the park and the far end.

Match referee, Mr Saliy, arrived at the ground and insisted that he was happy with the pitch following his pitch inspection two hours before kick-off, but despite the work carrying on, the match official changed his mind and decided to call the game off.

Dulwich Hamlet manager, Gavin Rose, praised the supporters’ who put in the graft to give the eye-catching game a chance.

“A great effort from the supporters’ etc to get the game on,” said Rose.

”In reality I thought we were always up against it to get this game on, but it’s a great effort from the club and the supporters’.

”We haven’t lost anything at the end of the day. We haven’t played the game but we will play the game at some point.”

Both managers agreed that the Enfield based official had made the correct decision to call the game off over concerns of players’ safety.

You must remember that these players are semi-professional footballers and if they pick up an injury playing football it could effect their career outside of the game and may not be able to work.

Rose said: “100%, 100% the pitch isn’t playable.  The snow is still coming down so it will only get worse. It’s cold and the players safety has got to be clearly 100% the main concern.

”I know that Maidstone coming down would have been good finance but if pur players’ are injured there’s no comparison. We can’t out our players’ on the pitch.”

Saunders agreed Rose’s thoughts and said: “You could see when we got here, it should have been called off.

”Great effort by the fellas at Dulwich. They’ve come in and they’ve worked really hard but as quick as they were clearing it, obviously it’s snowing again now. I think it was the right decision.”

Saunders inspected the pitch himself upon his arrival and spoke about the problem areas.

He said: “In parts of the goalmouth and the middle of it was an ice rink and me and Gavin (Rose) and (Junior) Kadi, the Dulwich fellas, have agreed with me it’s not safe.

”I know the ref, even when he got here at one o’clock, was keen to get it on.  They’ve put heaters on it, but as quick as you could defrost it, it was icing back over.

”Had we played we’d not only you’re risking injuries, but also ruining what should be a good game of football.”

Saunders added: “I think the players we’re up for it. It’s a big game, but also once you look at it and their players’ were the same, you know you can’t play in those conditions.”

Rose, whose sides play attacking passing football, revealed he would have changed his tactics for the game had it gone ahead, especially with the middle off the pitch clearly been the problem area.

“It’s horses for courses I suppose,” he said. “It depends on what pitch you play on, how you adjust yourselves.  We would have had to adjust how we’d prepare ourselves and our game plan would have had to adjust because once you’re out there you’d have to do the job.”

Attention now turns to both club’s next games.

Maidstone United welcome Neil Cugley’s Folkestone Invicta on the 3G pitch at The Gallagher Stadium on Tuesday night.

”I don’t know what the forecast is, we’ll prepare as it’s on and go from there really,” said Saunders.

”Tough one.  Cugs’ has got a decent side down there. He’s had the nucleolus of the squad, obviously we took Kingy (Stuart King) away. They’ve got a solid side there, a good side. I think they’ll be up there in and around the play-off’s, around that, come the end of the season, so it’s a big Kent derby for us.”

Dulwich Hamlet face Ryman Premier League side Kingstonian in a delayed Ryman League Cup Quarter-Final at home on Tuesday night, before traveling to third-placed Leatherhead on Saturday.

The winners of Tuesday’s Cup tie shall welcome Thamesmead Town to their ground in the semi-finals, whilst Leatherhead are five points behind the leaders.

Rose said: “I think they’re all going to be big games now.  If we’re to be competitive in league and Cups, they’re all going to be big games.

”Kingstonian are a big club with a lot of tradition etc so it will be quite fascinating. It’s good for the club to be playing against teams at that level. It’s a big game. It’s exciting rather than daunting.”

Looking ahead to playing Richard Brady’s Leatherhead, Rose added: “Leatherhead are a good team. I know a lot of their players’ previously who took them up but are still there.  I know the management team fairly well.  I’ve got a lot of respect for the club, they’re a good club.  I expect them to be there or there abouts towards the end of the season, competing to win the league, if not just outside, like ourselves.”

Dulwich Hamlet issued a statement on their club website, not only to thank their volunteers, but to apologise to traveling supporters who made a wasted journey.

”It was a case of oh so close as The Hamlet did their best to stage the only non-league game in the south-east.

”A hardy band of fans were out of their beds before the sun had risen, to be at the ground for an eight o’clock start, in what was to be an ultimately in vain Herculean effort to get the match played.

”Brooms and shovels in hand, the large group of over 25 supporters grafted for almost six hours, boosted by the initial hopeful inspection by the local non-match Isthmian referee.

”The snow plough worked it’s magic, covers were removed and any remaining compressed white stuff was cleared.

”There were fans of all ages, men and women, who answered the rallying cry.  Sadly, all in vain, even with fans using their initiative and getting an industrial hot air blower, over the parts that were still too hard, the vast majority of the pitch was certainly playable, but quite rightly the match referee had the ultimate safety of players from both sides to consider when he called it off, with much reluctance, just after half past one.

”Dulwich Hamlet Football Club would like to thank every single person who gave up their Saturday to try to get the game on. The simple words thank you are not sufficient to express the gratitude the club owes you all.”

The south London club added: “And apologies to the fans of Maidstone United. We had every hope that we would beat the weather and were extremely confident we would.

”We are not the sort of club that wants supporters to make wasted journeys when they visit us.  It is sadly, part of being a loyal non-league fan, which our fans will be able to relate to down the years, when they have gone to games with late postponements on their travels.”

Visit Dulwich Hamlet’s website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet

Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.maidstoneunited.co.uk