For the first time in three seasons, the Hamlet opened their league season with a win, and it was two of their summer acquisitions, George Porter and Jayden Clarke, who gave them the victory.

After Porter's opener, it was looking like the game was heading for a draw thanks to a spectacular equaliser from Braintree's Alfie Matthews, until Clarke intervened with eight minutes to go.

As is so often the way on opening day, there were debutants galore on both sides, with the Hamlet naming six summer signings in their starting line-up and a further tree on the bench. The visitors had thirteen new faces in their squad, nine of them starting, with manager Angelo Harrop making his competitive bow in the dugout.

Harrop would have been impressed with the start made by his side as they pushed their hosts back towards their own penalty area in the opening exchanges, forcing numerous corners, and it was from one of these which saw them create their first chance of the campaign in the fourth minute, when an Alfie Payne corner was headed against the crossbar by right-back Baris Altintop with Charlie Grainger beaten.

Aside from that chance, the Hamlet weathered the storm fairly comfortably, and began to gain more possession on the ball. It took them until a quarter of an hour gone to create their first half-chance, as a deep free-kick from the left wing fell to Kreshnic Krasniqi unmarked on the far side of the penalty area, with the Kosovan controlling and sending a low ball to the near post, where goalkeeper Jack Sims did well to gather low at the feet of the lurking Porter.

Krasniqi was involved again soon after, as the hosts produced the move of the match to that point. Will Wood, playing as the left centre-back, came marauding out of defence and released Andre Blackman on the outside of him. The wing-back's cross fell perfectly to opposite wing-back Joe Felix, who laid the ball back to Danny Mills. Mills was always stretching to control but was able to flick the ball into the path of the oncoming Krasniqi, but he blazed his shot high over the crossbar.

This opened the door to a spate of chances for Dulwich, as Wood volleyed a cross wide at the back post, before Mills bullied his way into the area, and attempted to round Sims to score but saw the angle get too tight. Then after half an hour it was the skipper Jack Holland's turn to come close, seeing his goalbound header nodded off the line by Leon Davies, before Ronnie Vint put the rebound over.

It seemed a matter of time before that opener was coming, and it duly arrived in the 34th minute. The move started with Grainger restarting the game in his penalty area, and five passes later the ball found itself at the feet of ex-Hampton & Richmond man Sam Deadfield in the centre of the pitch. He spread the play out to Blackman, who surged towards the area. His first attempt at a cross was blocked, but the second found the head of Mills at the far post, and his knockdown was poked in by Porter, a man bang in form following goals in each of his last three preseason games as well.

From here you might have expected the Hamlet to seize control of the game but Braintree had other ideas. A driving run from midfield from Joe Muscatt saw him scythed down rather crudely by Vint on the edge of the area, with the Hamlet defender earning his side's first yellow of the campaign for his troubles. Up stepped Matthews to curl a delightful freekick into the postage stamp, nestling in the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar, people in the ground will do well to see a better freekick during the rest of the season.

Before the break it should have been a second for the Iron, when a long ball from John White saw Levi Amantchi escape the attentions of Vint, then Frankie Raymond, and a despairing challenge from Jack Holland to be one-on-one with Grainger, but he could only stab wide.

The beginning of the second half saw chances at a premium, with Grainger saving low from Fowkes from distance, as both sides struggled to break the other down. Gavin Rose turned to his bench just after the hour mark and introduced Nana Owusu and Jayden Clarke for their debuts in place of Porter and Krasniqi, and slowly the Hamlet began to create chances again, as Mills failed to cleanly connect to a Deadfield cross, possibly being distracted by the presence of his own teammates.

With a little more than ten minutes to go, it was Deadfield's turn to fashion a chance, as a bouncing ball from a corner dropped to him, but he could not get his head over the ball and his shot was stabbed over. However, the Hamlet would get that winner, and it was Clarke, only announced as a signing this week after an impressive trial period, who would provide it. Not for the first time in the game, it came from Wood bursting forward down the left and linking up with Blackman, who managed to stay onside as he advanced down the left wing. As he approached the penalty area, Wood went on a decoy run outside of him, with Blackman instead rolling the ball inside to the oncoming Clarke, who whipped the ball into the far corner beyond the reach of Sims for a superb debut strike.

There was still time for the matchwinner to earn a yellow card for trying to wrestle the ball away from the Iron at a freekick, which sparked some pushing and shoving, and for the same player to have another chance deflect wide, but his major impact on the game had already been made, with the crowd showing their appreciation at full time.

Dulwich Hamlet: 1 Charlie Grainger, 3 Will Wood, 6 Jack Holland (c), 8 Frankie Raymond, 9 Danny Mills (19 Dan Smith 77'), 10 Sam Deadfield, 16 Andre Blackman, 18 George Porter (21 Jayden Clarke 64'), 23 Joe Felix, 25 Ronnie Vint, 26 Kreshnic Krasniqi (11 Nana Owusu 64')

Unused substitutes: 2 Sanchez Ming, 15 Quade Taylor

Goalscorers: George Porter 34', Jayden Clarke 82'

Yellow Cards: Ronnie Vint 38', Jayden Clarke 88'

Braintree Town: 1 Jack Sims, 2 Baris Altintop, 3 Leon Davies (12 Albie Armin 74'), 4 Joe Muscatt, 5 John White (c), 6 Kyran Clements, 7 Alfie Matthews (17 Aaron Blair 86'), 8 Alfie Payne, 9 Levi Amantchi, 10 Chris Regis, 11 Ben Fowkes (16 Willie Clemons 74')

Goalscorer: Alfie Matthews 39'