Dulwich Hamlet 0 Oxford City 2, Vanarama National League South, Saturday 9th April 2022

Hamlet started with three centre backs for the first time since the chaotic defeat at bottom placed Billericay two months ago, as well as picking the complete middle four unit that featured regularly during the consistently impressive performances of last Autumn for the first time since injuries began to disrupt team selection in early January.

City’s Joe Iaciofano, a constant menace to the Hamlet defence in the reverse fixture at Oxford last November, had the first attempt on goal in just the second minute but his speculative shot from 22 yards deflected well wide for a corner. Just two minutes later Hamlet had a much better chance to score after Gio McGregor’s free kick into a crowded box was headed on by Danny Mills. The ball dropped inside the six-yard box for Ronnie Vint, who stretched to meet it on the volley, but he couldn’t beat Ben Dudzinski in the City goal who held the shot safely. Zac McEachran, outstanding all afternoon for City in an attacking midfield role, was next to threaten a goal when he cut into the box and fired just wide of the near post before McGregor tested Dudzinski with a direct free kick that was pushed away with some difficulty. As the clock ticked into the second quarter of the game, a slick move on the left between McEachran and giant striker Hamzad Kargbo on the left saw Iaciofano narrowly fail to connect with the latter’s cross as it flashed cross goal. McEachran was on target after once more cutting inside but this time Charlie Grainger held his shot comfortably, then Andre Blackman whipped in a dangerous cross for Hamlet that Dudzinski met with a flying punch only for the ball to almost rebound into the net off the head of Ibra Sekajja. The final significant action of a closely fought opening half ended with Grainger holding another McEachran effort after the City man had wriggled free from his markers inside the box.

City were quickest off the mark at the start of the second half with Grainger forced to concede a corner at his near post, from which Kargbo headed well over the crossbar under little pressure. Hamlet retaliated when Mills released Darren McQueen through the inside left channel with a nicely weighted pass but, forced wide under pressure from a covering defender, McQueen couldn’t get enough power into his shot to beat Dudzinski. In the 59th minute City pulled the Hamlet defence out of shape with a sweeping move down the left, Iaciofano stretched Grainger with a shot after receiving the final pass inside the box, then captain Reece Fleet blazed the rebound over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Having competed on equal terms for an hour, Hamlet now began to lose control of the midfield and City made the breakthrough in the 66th minute after Hamlet never fully cleared their lines following a corner. A sequence of rushed clearances and further deliveries into the box climaxed with Zac McEachran dancing into the box from the right and, using defenders in front of him as a screen, tucking a neat left foot shot inside the near post with Grainger unsighted and well beaten. Hamlet seemed shaken by the setback and just three minutes later City doubled their lead. It looked all too easy for the visitors as McEachran picked out Nana Owusu in space and he relayed the ball to Joe Iacofano on the left to shoot across Grainger and inside the far post.

Hamlet made a tactical switch with just over fifteen minutes to go, sacrificing defender Taofiq Olomowewe for extra midfielder James Dayton, and four minutes later the hosts finally forced a first chance for more than 25 minutes as Sekajja ran onto a McGregor pass and saw his shot held by Dudzinski after cutting inside. However there would be no late onslaught from the Hamlet, who were unable to threaten again, In fact City nearly added a third goal after Iaciofano attacked the by-line on the right and fired a low cross into the goalmouth which Vint did remarkably well to shovel to safety, sliding in under pressure from an opponent, when it appeared any contact would inevitably result in an own goal.

Oxford City are the Hamlet’s oldest regular league opponents, having first visited the Freeman’s Ground on the same site as the current Champion Hill back in the 1907/08 season, which was each club’s first as members of the Isthmian league in the competition’s third season. City have well and truly established themselves as a bogey team for the Hamlet in recent times, winning all six encounters since the clubs were reunited in National League South, and they’ve done incredibly well to maintain their strong early season form since losing former manager David Oldfield to National Division Weymouth shortly after beating the Hamlet by the same score at Court Place Farm in November. His young replacement Ross Jenkins has picked up the baton with aplomb, moulding the squad he inherited into a formidable unit that demonstrated the difference between genuine promotion contenders and also-rans reduced to hoping for the “wild card” that the sixth and final play-off place represents.

Hamlet (3-4-3): Grainger – Olomowewe (sub Dayton 72), Vint©, Taylor - Higgs, McGregor, Timlin, Blackman - Sekajja (sub Kandi 86), Mills, McQueen (sub Allassani 90). Unused substitutes: Sterling, Ming.