Camara returnes to Champion Hill to haunt the Hamlet

There was a brace of goals for Crawley Town's Panutche Camara as Harry Kewell's side emerged the better side in an enthralling game

Pre-season opened at Champion Hill last Tuesday night as Dulwich Hamlet welcomed Harry Kewell’s Crawley Town to South London with the Reds Australian manager utilising his full squad against the hosts in what proved an enthralling contest with plenty of goals but perhaps an overdose of errors from both combatants. For the visitors former Dulwich striker Panutche Camara came back to haunt the Hamlet with a double, his scoring feat matched by Dumebi Dumaka who took advantage of a howler from the Crawley ‘keeper to bag his first before putting the finishing touches to a fine team manoeuvre to get his second.

Unlike in previous pre-seasons the Dulwich Hamlet starting XI saw many of last season heroes return with just a couple of new faces. Former Millwall and Bristol City midfielder Jamaican international Marvin Elliott turned out in Pink and Blue against his former club whilst fans got the chance to see new signing, defender Anthony Acheampong, in action at the Hill for the first time. Unfortunately, the fans got to see little of Elliot in action as he was forced to leave the field before the break.

With more preseason preparation behind them the Reds looked sharper from the start and it took just two minutes for them to break through Dulwich’s defence. Enzio Boldewijn’s powerful run down the right opened up the Hamlet defence but his cut back should have been comfortably cleared. Instead it went straight to Billy Clifford who laid the ball back to Boldewijn to drive an angled shot into the net past Preston Edwards. Dulwich rarely threatened although both Sanchez Ming & Dumebi Dumaka produced good crosses that passed across the Crawley goal with no home player in the penalty area.

One-time Enfield Town midfielder Arjan Tajbakhsh was forced off the field with an injury with barely a quarter hour played and it was his replacement Panutche Camara who doubled the lead in the 29th minute. Michael Chambers failed to deal decisively with a through ball and, when Nathan Green tried to get the ball back to Preston Edwards, Panutche Camara nipped in to confidently beat the Dulwich keeper.

Dulwich had gone close a few minutes earlier when Dumebi Dumaka fired over but he was not to be denied and got Dulwich back in the game within a minute of Camara’s goal. A overhit cross from Sanchez Ming looked to be sailing out for a throw on the opposite flank but Crawley ‘keeper made the effort to pluck it out of the air. Instead all he added up doing was palming the ball up in the air and Dumaka was on head to poach a simple goal as he nipped in to head home.

With the interval fast approaching at last come a quality goal as a forward pass from Michael Chambers was flicked on by Nathan Green into the path of Dumebi Dumaka who cut inside Josh Payne before producing a controlled finish beyond the grasp of Morris.

The start of the second half saw a mass change for the visitors and the fresher legs certainly showed as they looked by far the more threatening in the early exchanges. Seven minutes after the break the woodwork thwarted Crawley when Jordan Roberts showed great skill to take a cross over his shoulder and volley it against the bar with Matt Harrold’s follow-up well held by Preston Edwards.

Another goal was sure to follow and once again it was Camara with the killer touch, deftly sidefooting home as Harrold laid the ball back into his path. However, the Hamlet might well have been swiftly level as a Gavin Tomlin shot was parried only to hit a retreating defender before it was scrambled off the line by Josh Lelan.
The traditional mass substitution came on the half hour as Dulwich introduced a whole new outfield unit boasting trialists young and old, a few familiar faces from the last campaign and a blast from the past in the shape of striker Jeff Goulding who counts Bournemouth and Cheltenham Town amongst his former clubs. With all the changes things started to get a little scrappy and the referee found himself busier than he might have hoped as a few challenges crossed the borderline of friendly
With five minutes left on the clock, the game was settled as a contest when Harrold poached a fourth goal for the Reds. From the left Moussa Sanoh drove a powerful cross through the six-yard box and Harrold was perfectly placed to deftly turn the ball into the top corner from close range,

There was still time for trialist Gustavo Ferraz to produce a sublime piece of skill but his effort produced a brilliant fingertip save from visiting keeper Yusuf Mersin flying high to his left. At the other end Preston Edwards produced a strong save from Sanoh and then a great tip over from a Harrold effort.

Dulwich Squad:
Starting XI: Preston Edwards; Marc Weatherstone; Nathan Green; Ibrahim Kargbo; Anthony Acheampong; Michael Chambers; Sanchez Ming; Marvin Elliott; Gavin Tomlin; Ashley Carew; Dumebi Dumaka
Substitutes named: Quade Taylor; Jamie Mascoll; Ralph Kottoy; Harly Wise; Rickie Hayles; Willys Balende; Gustavo Ferraz; Jeff Goulding; Ciao Guimares; Nyren Clunis; Kiki Oshilaja; Mohamed Mohamed; Lekan Osideko; Vinny Baelo; Bruno Baelo

Crawley Town
1st half: Glenn Morris, Aryan Tajbakhsh (Panutche Camara 18), Joe McNerney, Josh Payne, Josh Yorwerth, André Blackman, Billy Clifford, Kaby Djalo, Enzio Boldewijn, Dean Cox, Dennon Lewis.
2nd half: Yusuf Mersin, Lewis Young, Josh Lelan, Mark Connolly, Cedric Evina, Dannie Bulman, Mark Randall, Moussa Sanoh, Panutche Camara, Matt Harrold, Jordan Roberts.

Attendance 392

Officials: Lee Brennan (Referee)
Val Anekwe & Rob Columb (Assistant Referees)
Ian Bentley ((Fourth Official)