Phoenix FM’s JOHN CHUBB reporting from the AGP Arena
Billericay Town’s poor run continued as they lost their fourth league match in a row, Dulwich Hamlet forgetting their off the field troubles for the evening as they left Essex with all 3 points, in a match overshadowed by a serious injury to visiting striker Reise Allassani.
In the 4th minute Billericay had the first chance of the game, Ricky Modeste’s cross finding Jake Robinson whose header was superbly saved by Dulwich goalkeeper Cory Addai.
The resulting corner found the head of Blues captain Dean Inman, who powered in a header of his own but again Addai made a fine stop.
Ricay’s continued pressure paid off as they took the lead in the 9th minute, Inman flicking home a header from Josh Urquhart’s long throw.
The home side found the net for the second time on 22 minutes, Robinson’s clever back flick finding Sam Deering who slotted the ball past Addai into the right hand corner of the net, but the linesman flagged for offside.
Despite the visitors’ attempts to hit Blues on the break, Addai was at this point having a much busier night than his opposite number Alan Julian. Both Calum Butcher and Adam Cunnington almost doubled Billericay’s lead in the 25th minute, but the Hamlet keeper made fine saves.
But out of the blue, and in spite of the home team’s dominance Dulwich grabbed an equaliser 2 minutes before half time. Former Crystal Palace youngster Allassani, scorer of 16 goals since arriving at Champion Hill in the autumn outfoxed the Ricay defence to cross the ball for Afolibi Akinygmi to find the net, much to the delight of the sizeable contingent of visiting supporters.
In the early stages of the second half Hamlet, clearly buoyed by their equaliser started to find momentum and show creativity, in spite of the difficult pitch. Allassani came close to grabbing the lead for them on 55 minutes, only a superb defensive intervention from Billericay right back Joe Kizzi preventing this.
But Allassani was badly hurt in the process, and such was the concern that managers Glenn Tamplin and Gavin Rose both agreed to lead the players back to the dressing room, whilst the Dulwich forward was attended to by the medical staff. It looked a nasty injury and the bloodied Allassani, who appeared to be unconscious was then stretchered off.
Play recommended shortly afterwards and the visitors had the first real chance after the restart, when Julian had to be alert to clear a strong effort from Akinygmi.
Then in the 70th minute Nyren Clunis broke clear with a powerful run all the way up the field, then passed to ball to Akinygmi on his right who beat Julian to score his and the visitors’ second, and cue wild celebrations from the players and fans of the South Londoners.
Billy Bricknell, a second half substitute for Cunnington came very close to an equaliser minutes later, his effort bouncing off the post.
Clunis then had a long range effort at the other end which Julian managed to clear.
Due to the lengthy stoppage that had taken place 17 minutes of injury time were added on and as the game entered the 101st minute Dulwich grabbed their third goal, the lively Clunis rounding Julian to seal all 3 points for his side.
This was a nightmare result for the hosts, who had the majority of possession and 14 shots on target to Dulwich’s 4. The only consolation Tamplin and his men can take from this game is that they still have 4 games in hand on Hamlet, with one point separating the clubs.
Billericay Town: Alan Julian, Joe Kizzi, Josh Urquhart, Dean Inman, Rob Swaine (Nick Wheeler 90), Sam Deering (Liam Hughes 54), Ricky Modeste, Danny Waldren, Calum Butcher, Jake Robinson, Adam Cunnington (Billy Bricknell 68).
Dulwich Hamlet: Cory Addai, Quade Taylor, Tanasheh Abrahams (Nathan Green 90), Ibrahim Kargo, Rickie Hayles, Mark Weatherstone, Nyren Clunis, Ashley Carew (Kenny Beaney 60), Reise Allassani (Nathan Ferguson 58), Afolibi Akinygmi, Sanchez Ming.
Attendance: 988
