In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026

Even Cray Valley’s unsettling lucky gnome (pictured above) couldn’t stop Dulwich Hamlet collecting all three points at The Artic Stadium yesterday, with the pink and blues surviving an awful second …

Feb 22, 2026 - 21:18

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026

Even Cray Valley’s unsettling lucky gnome (pictured above) couldn’t stop Dulwich Hamlet collecting all three points at The Artic Stadium yesterday, with the pink and blues surviving an awful second half performance to win 2-1.

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026

On the popular Hamlet forum, PP added his match report:

We certainly made hard work of that. Deservedly 2-0 up at half time on balance of play, although both goals came in the last 5 minutes of the half after CVPM had wasted two glorious chances on the break.

Our old boys Marvel Ekpiteta and Danny Waldren were a weak link at the heart of the home defence, both booked by half time, the former for dissent after pointlessly arguing over being penalised for an obvious grappling fouls on Smith after getting away with several others, the latter for a crude foul on AJ.

Within a few minutes of the second half starting, Ekpiteta threw Smith to the floor with another judo move and rightly got a second yellow card. We were 2-0 up with 40 minutes to play against 10 men and somehow lost the plot.

I felt we made unnecessary substitutions too early, withdrawing AJ and Smith for Wanadio and Kassarate, leaving us with no focal point in attack and Clunis playing as a false 9.

AJ was immense for the 60 minutes or so he was on the pitch, CVPM just couldn’t handle him, and Smith did the hard yards for the team without getting any clear chances himself.

By the time Mills was introduced we’d conceded a goal after faffing around at the back and giving away a free kick, then ended up hanging on against a poor side for the last 25 minutes. Anyway, all’s well that ends well!

I just wish we’d be a bit more proactive in putting a game to bed in this situation. It was a classic example of a red card causing more disruption to the team with the extra man.

We went from looking dominant to looking desperate. On the plus side, we lost at home to Bognor last year in similar circumstances, but won today. That’s progress.

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026

AC added:

Good to see another win but it should have been easier. Needed good saves from Bull and great interceptions by Chambers to see us over the line.

At the end of the day with are the the average side in the division. Played 30 . Won 10 , Drawn 10 , Lost 10 and scored 41 let in 39.

We have definitely improved from last season and that is noticeable away from home particularly on non-grass pitches.

At home we are pretty much the same. As stated above the Whitstable game and particularly wanadio’s red card was a early turning point in the season.

He was on fire at that point but has rarely looked the same player since and difficult to argue in Baugh and Jeffery starting ahead of him. The Team has also not reached those early season hights again

It would be good to have that Fans Forum soon. I think it was before Xmas that we were asked for preferred days and subjects to be covered.

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026

BD: First half lots of pressure, rabble in great voice (with a roof over our heads, what a sound). I was just saying to the person next to me that I like Sol but he needs to add goals to his game, and two mins later he did just that.

When AJ slotted it in it really did feel like job done. As ever, that was not the case, the red card energised them and it was us that looked like 10 men for the whole second half, as let Cray dominate.

I’m not a coach but seems to me there must be some fairly basic things you can teach the players to do to ease the pressure and take the sting out of the game.

Couple of side points, was great to have warm enough weather to sit outside soaking up the Eltham atmosphere at the Rusty Bucket, and the Cray pint glass £1 deposit scheme was a pain in the ass.

In photos: Dulwich Hamlet bag all three points at Cray Valley Paper Mills, Sat 21st Feb 2026