Dulwich Hamlet Under 18s 1, Thamesmead Town 1

I can't get yesterday out of my head. The first thing I notice as that one of our players has a long white undershirt beneath his kit. Aaargh!! I'd never have spotted such an anoraky infringement if it wasn't for the moaning at Burgess Hill yesterday!

I was expecting a feisty game this morning versus Thamesmead Town. They have tended to be based on recent matches. None one more so than the London Cup final last season, when they were among the most ungracious losers I've ever seen, after we beat them five one.

Presumably they've had a change of personnel, as there was no real animosity in this Kent Youth League North Division match at South Bank University Sportsground.

The Hamlet had the best of the opening spells, a 30 yarder just over the bar; and hitting the post. One thing that annoyed me was when one of our forwards went for the ball, legitimately as far as I could see, as the keeper never had the ball under control, but the referee immediately blew for a foul. Protecting the keeper goes too far sometimes & it's almost as if there's a little invisible exclusion zone around them.

Just before half time I got a tap on the shoulder & our former Reserve Team manager Michael Watson said hello, in his job as scout for Charlton Athletic. If ever Gavin Rose leaves, then here is a man who could certainly be our First Team manager on a limited budget.

The Thamesmead equaliser comes midway through the second half, after they're awarded a penalty, after someone is brought down just inside the area. Despite the inevitable protestations that 'I never touched him!' it looked fair enough to me. Not a hack, but he did nudge him.

We do well to save the shot from the spot, but the penalty taker follows up to head into the net.

With ten minutes or so to go we get the ball into the net. Unfortuantely it's punched in Maradona style. And unlike the cheating fat Argie drug taker, this one is spotted, & he gets a straight red card for deliberate hand ball. Which I thought would only be a yellow, as I was under the misapprehension that you could only get a straight red if a handball denied a goalscoring opportunity, rather than scoring yourself.

One last thing that re-surfaced from yesterdays terrace talk. One of the Thamesmead subs was wearing those fashionable bright pink boots. Oops, sorry Morroccan Sunset! ;-)