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Sutton United
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5-1
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Dulwich Hamlet
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Griffiths 16, 51, 54, 71
Taggart 90 |
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Clunis 52
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1 October 2011
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FA Cup with Budweiser
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| 2nd Qualifying Round |
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| 494 |
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Antony Coggins (Bicester)
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| 1 |
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Kevin Scriven
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| 2 |
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Chris Piper |
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64 Murray
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3
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Paul Telfer
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| 4 |
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Fola Orilonishe
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64 Beautyman
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| 5 |
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Simon Downer |
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| 6 |
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Sam Page |
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| 7 |
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Anthony Riviere |
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| 8 |
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Tommy Kavanagh |
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9
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Leroy Griffiths
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| 10 |
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Craig Watkins |
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64 Dundas
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| 11 |
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Tony Taggart
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12
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Karl Murray
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14
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Craig Dundas
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15
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Harry Beautyman
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16
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Alan Bray |
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17
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Wayne Shaw |
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| 18 |
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Steve McKimm |
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Sutton progressed to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup with Budweiser rather more comfortably than had been predicted before the game as Ryman League Division One South leaders Dulwich, unbeaten so far this season, found the gap in status too wide to bridge and for the third time in a row left Gander Green Lane having conceded five goals. U’s were on the attack from the start, and although they gifted Dulwich a glimmer of hope within a minute of Leroy Griffiths’ second goal of the game, Griffiths completed his hat-trick just two minutes later to slap down any ideas Dulwich had of turning the game round, and finished holding the match ball and a bottle of champagne as Man of the Match having become the first player since Matt Fowler in February 2004 to score four goals in a game for U’s.
Only a training injury to Joel Ledgister, and the fact that seven substitutes can be named in the FA Cup, prevented U’s from naming an identical squad to that which had swept Maidenhead aside a week earlier, and they started this game as they had that one. Only four minutes had elapsed when Tony Taggart hit the foot of the post following an indirect free kick inside the penalty area, although even the most hardened U’s fan might have felt that justice had been done as referee Antony Coggins, who otherwise had a fine game, could well have been the only person in the ground who seriously thought that Francis Duku intended to play the ball back to his goalkeeper when he was looking downfield and seemed guilty of nothing more than a wild mis-kick. Controversy averted, U’s came close again when Sam Page volleyed over at the far post from a right wing cross, and when Anthony Riviere ran on to a superb pass from Griffiths but ran the ball just too wide and allowed Dulwich to clear, so a goal looked on the cards and duly arrived in the 16th minute when a long ball forward from Page found Griffiths in space between the centre backs to go on and drive a low shot past James Tedder in the Dulwich goal.
Griffiths was just off target with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area later in the half, and Taggart saw a free kick, this time from just outside the penalty area, turned round by Tedder, but with only the single goal lead there were some nervous moments for U’s, mainly self inflicted as Kevin Scriven raced off his line to deny Sanchez Ming after a poor back pass from Chris Piper, and then came outside his area to clear but succeeded only in finding Dean Carpenter, whose instant shot from just inside the Sutton half only just missed the target. There was another one early in the second half as Frankie Sawyer shrugged off the attentions of Simon Downer, illegal enough to earn a yellow card when the ball next went out of play, and shot past Scriven but not with enough pace to beat the covering Telfer. Two minutes later, though, U’s had what should have been the security of a two goal lead as Griffiths picked the ball up just inside the Dulwich half and, helped by some good off the ball running from Craig Watkins, reached the edge of the penalty area before shooting low past Tedder in to the corner of the net. Within a minute, however, they had handed the visitors a lifeline when a dreadful mix-up between Telfer and Scriven allowed Nyren Clunis to stick a foot in and usher the ball over the line, and so the relief was considerable when, just two minutes later, Dulwich’s commendable, but always slightly risky, policy of trying to build from the back finally came to grief as Fola Orilonishe pounced on a wayward pass to put Tommy Kavanagh through, and although Tedder parried the midfielder’s shot it was straight on to Griffiths’ head for the hat-trick and the restoration of the two goal margin.
Dulwich kept going in what was an entertaining and open game for the hot conditions, with Scriven beating away a Kevin James free kick after Page had been booked for a foul on the edge of the area, and Telfer producing a well judged intervention to deny Sawyer a shooting opportunity, but with just under twenty minutes to go, moments after Tedder had saved well from Taggart, Telfer was creating rather than stopping, as his pass over the top sent Griffiths away again to outpace two covering defenders and roll the ball past Tedder with enough pace to reach the line before Duku’s attempt to clear hastened its progress to the back of the net.
Although Scriven had to make one more good low save that just about ended Dulwich’s resistance, and after Harry Beautyman had dived in at the far post but suffered the double agony of colliding painfully with the post and seeing his header bounce over the bar, Taggart completed the rout with a simple tap-in after Craig Dundas had burst through on the left and seen his shot diverted in to Taggart’s path.
Dulwich: J Tedder, K Morath-Gibbs, D Carpenter, P Adeniyi, F Duku, J Bowen (sub S Patterson-Bohner 64), N Clunis, J Kadi (sub M Maan 73), F Sawyer (sub E Pinnock 64), K James, S Ming. Subs n/u G Rose, M Chambers, O Lawson, M Lungan. Booked: Ming (17-foul), Morath-Gibbs (60-shirt pulling), Pinnock (73-foul).
PAUL'S VIEW
was very pleased with the way the FA Cup tie against Dulwich turned out. We asked the players today to be very professional, to be on their game and to avoid any slip-ups and from the start to the end I thought they did particularly well and again I think some of the football we’re playing at the moment is out of this world.
In the first ten or fifteen minutes we virtually camped in their half, Tony Taggart hit the post and Sam Page volleyed over, and in those circumstances you always want the first goal to go in and it was good to see a great strike from Leroy.
I felt very comfortable watching it after that. According to the statistics that Clive gave me we had ten chances and seven corners to their one corner and no chances, so I didn’t feel that we’d stepped off the gas. In games you’re always going to get periods where the opposition gets the ball at times, and it was a very hot day as well which maybe contributed, but I felt we were always comfortable in the rest of the first half.
We asked the lads at half time to keep doing the right things. We felt we needed the second goal and were a little peeved that we hadn’t scored it before half time, so 2-0 was an important scoreline, but then having achieved it we immediately gave it away again, then immediately put it back right again, so it was a strange five minutes of football – pleased to get the second goal, disappointed to concede, then happy to get that third goal immediately. I thought Tommy Kavanagh did very well on the second and third goals, and of course Leroy was there to finish them off.
I think Leroy gave an incredible all-round performance for the team today. He still annoys me at times when he doesn’t shoot – even today there were two or three occasions when he’s tried to put a goal on a plate for someone else but I thought his all-round performance for the team was a credit to him, and he’s certainly a big player for us. Other people have doubted him in the past in terms of his commitment, but he’s come in to this club and been fantastic.
We were able to bring on three good substitutes today, which helped in the heat. Harry came on with that great enthusiasm that he gives you, but he also smashed in to the post and then charged a ball down and got it in the stomach, but at the moment competition for places is wide open and people want to do well. Craig Dundas has come on and done particularly well for half an hour and Karl Murray, who’s been champing at the bit to get back, came on and did the job at right back for us, so we’re in a position where we can freshen things up. It comes down to competition for places – we changed it and freshened it up a couple of games ago and got Tommy Kavanagh and Fola back in and they’ve been possibly our two best performances football-wise so it’s a good position to be in.
Today’s selection meant that Dundo and Harry started on the bench but it’s not that they’ve been dropped. Harry had a tight hamstring that we were aware of, and Craig’s played a lot of games and we’re only in to September. It’s right that Craig Watkins and Leroy were given a chance to see how they do together up front, but this squad isn’t about eleven, it’s got to be about a sixteen or seventeen, and that’s why it was important to win today so that financially we can keep this squad together. We’ll look at the Neil Jenkins situation during the week as to whether we recall him for the trip to Weston or not.
The crowd is also vital to us. If Bruce, Alan and myself want to keep this run going we need the support of the punters. It's a difficult market out there, there's not a load of sponsors, so we need to be supported if we can be every other Saturday and on Tuesday nights. My hope is that the crowds can increase to what we deserve, which is about 800 or 900 paying spectators, because that would allow us the chance to progress. If we stick at the 500 or 600 it's always going to be difficult.''
LEROY GRIFFITHS
Leroy Griffiths was delighted with his four goal performance against Dulwich which provided a personal tonic. ‘’The last couple of games I’ve been a bit within myself. The manager, Macca, Rivs and Chris have helped me out because things off the pitch affect me but they’ve told me to keep going, I had a few phone calls with them last night and they said to me that today was my day and luckily enough with the way we played it was, so I’m delighted.’’
Leroy had been without a competitive goal this season until last week but he says he wasn’t getting too concerned. ‘’I’m not so worried about scoring goals. I don’t care who scores them as long as we’re picking up points, which to me is what it’s all about. We’ve got a great team here who can push on to the next level, the team atmosphere is great as people can tell – when we score goals everyone loves each other and there’s no bad feeling between anyone. Players have been left out because the players who have come in have done their job and it’s hard to separate them. Even today there are players who should be starting who aren’t, and I feel sorry for them, but the way we’re going and the way we’ve been playing and winning we can keep going with the same team. The manager to be fair has been strong enough and honest enough to let the players know that everyone’s shirt is up to be fought for, and if you’re doing it you’re in, and if you’re not you’re out, and it’s left everyone fighting for places. The more competition there is, the more goals we’re scoring and the better we’re getting, so hopefully we can keep going on this run.’’
Leroy is cautiously positive about the start to the season that U’s have made. ‘’I’m impressed with the way we’ve started, although we do well, then sometimes we kill ourselves with some of the things we do, but it’s a learning process and everyone’s on a learning curve. We’ve got some youngsters in there who have to learn from us more experienced players how to retain the ball and keep the ball better when we’re under pressure, and once we do that I think we can go on and shock the league.’’
An experienced player at this level, Leroy draws a favourable comparison between Sutton and his previous clubs. ‘’We’re a very good team. I enjoyed playing at Fisher because we had a great squad and great backing, but here Dos is the same. He backs his players and puts himself on the line for us, and with a good manager like that we can go out, give the best we can, and express ourselves, and that’s what a lot of players did today. You saw the atmosphere out there today – the fans are like an extra man for us, and when they keep going it spurs us on and we keep going and we end up getting fours and five like we have in the last two games. Hopefully we can keep this run of scoring and form going and you never know where we might end up.’’
Despite scoring four, Leroy was happy to share the credit for the result with the rest of the team. ‘’The team performance today was much better, much stronger, and we were solid. We didn’t just sit back once we’d got one or two and then had a little slip up, we carried on going and pushed them and pressured them and to be honest it was a whole team performance today and I was just lucky enough to be the one who scored the goals. Of the four the last one (below) was my favourite because by then I was getting a bit of banter from Peter at the back for them, and although it was all friendly, when there’s a bit of banter it makes scoring the goals a bit special.’’
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