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Once again Whyteleafe find themselves suffering a period of poor form with their FA Cup successes now well behind them. 'Leafe have a good record at Dulwich Hamlet but on Tuesday night their positive spells, early in each half, were not enough to win anything from this game.
Stuart Massey's side started in positive mood with Paul Scott and Denva McKenzie both forging out chances although the best chance in the opening minutes fell to Dulwich's Walid Matata who headed over from close range in the third minute.
McKenzie looked to have made a great opportunity in the 18th minute having beaten his marker and running on goal only to be tackled from behind. It looked to be a clear penalty but the referee, Mr O'Brien, felt that the tackle was clean adding salt into the striker's wounds by giving the home side a goal kick - a clear indication that the defender didn't even get the ball!
Dulwich began to get the upper hand as the half went on and on 25 minutes they made a breakthrough. A mix up amongst 'Leafe keeper Rob Tolfrey and his defenders let in Matata who managed to scramble the ball in with Tolfrey stranded.
Whyteleafe made little headway in the remainder of the half, with just a couple of half chances. A McKenzie shot was well stopped by Hamlet keeper, Jamie Lunan, on 35 minutes and three minutes later former Dulwich midfielder Sol Patterson-Bohner saw his shot fly inches over Lunan's crossbar from 20 yards.
'Leafe started the second half in the best possible way. Good work on the left by Andrew Martin resulted in a cross to Nicky Greene. Greene easily beat his marker and coolly shot past Lunan from the back post to make it one-all.
Rob Tolfrey found himself the busiest man on the pitch soon after as once again the homesters raised their game and 'Leafe were forced to look for opportunities on the break. Paul Scott came the closest in this spell for Whyteleafe shooting just over on 66 minutes but once again it was Dulwich who found the net. On 70 minutes a deep cross found Matata unmarked and he headed home from close range to retake the lead.
Some good ball skills from Scott playing on Whyteleafe's left resulted in a pass to McKenzie on the edge of the box. McKenzie turned brilliantly and fired a shot at the Dulwich goal, which Lunan did well to block. But really Dulwich were the dominant side by now and it came as little surprise that they extended their lead. A break down the left from Laurent Hamici resulted in a fine individual goal shoot from an acute angle.
'Leafe had little in the way of response and the closest they came to scoring came from another former Dulwich player, Asher Hudson, who had a good run and shot in the dying minutes of the game, the ball going just wide.
Whyteleafe: Tolfrey, Hudson, Harney, Reeve, Broomhead, Goodchild, McKenzie, Patterson-Bohner (Green), Martin, Scott, Greene. Unused subs: Jabbie, Kabongo, Riley, Murray-Price.
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