Croydon Athletic 1 Dulwich Hamlet 2

Beyond the bright lights and fleshpots of neon-lit Croydon, awash to Burberry and cheap lager. Along a rutted ginnel behind the suburban necropolis.

There one finds Mayfields, home to the Rams of Croydon Athletic, and now rededicated to the too-soon-departed Keith Tuckey, denizen and chief benefactor, in Athletic lofty ambitious to wrest the title of that borough's senior non-league club from their rivals from the Arena.

As the Trams have gone off the rails in recent years so the Rams have gambolled in Isthmian Fields, flirted with a return to whence they came but in that time broke dreams of more exalted clubs, among them the Hamlet.

In the shadow of the city of the dead, a Friday night encounter beneath a half-spun moon came dripping with more foreboding than a Hammer horror.

Would this night be the graveyard of Hamlet play-off aspirations, snuffing out those dreams like the naïve teen in the abandoned summer camp?

Or perhaps this would be the night the spark of life was returned to Hamlet's hopes, resurrected for the final run in to season's end?

In more productive times, November last year, Dulwich had rampaged through an Athletic side more lambs than Rams but times have changed at Mayfields and so has the personnel.

Of the starting XI just five of the Rams had featured in that rout and one of those, Sol Patterson-Bohner, was wearing pink and blue that fruitful afternoon.

Dulwich too had rung the changes so not in such drastic fashion.

With Billy Chattaway taking on a wing back role, Ricky Dobson had rare departure from the starting line-up while young Charlie Taylor made his full debut joining Meshach Nugent in a two-pronged attack.

Did those defensive tinkerings play a part in Croydon's lightning quick lead for, those Dulwich threatened first, the rutting Rams had carved eventide's opening goal just 3 minutes from the first whistle.

Dulwich's defence seemed at odds with itself as the ball was flicked through the penalty area, Jordan Kiffin thundering though, running on to the ball ahead of Chattaway, a mellifluous, imperious drive under the diving body of a powerless Sheikh Ceesay.

Too used to conceding the late goal in recent weeks, too, too late to salvage points lost, for once Dulwich had all the time in the world to gird the loins and go in search of recovery.

The Rams claimed the territory, Dulwich posed the threat.

A booming Shayne Mangodza free kick exposed the aerial shortcoming of the hosts, Marc Cumberbatch battling for possession, refusing to let the ball run away for goalkick.

The pressure remained and when the ball arrived back in the danger area, Cumberbatch set up Shawn Beveney to slip a pass into young Taylor, only for the striker to balloon the ball over the bar.

A greater test for Gareth Williams, the Rams' tyro custodian, as Nugent slipped the bounds of ambling defenders only for a quick-witted Williams to bravely block at his feet on the penalty spot.

Fast and furious came the action as the Rams were galloping upfield to claim a corner.

With the big guns in attendance, Richard Blackwell climbing above the rest, his thumping header goalbound it seemed until Steve May provided a vital block on the line.

A moment later and an Athletic free-kick was met by Rams' latest addition, Bulgarian hitman Evgeniy Kurdov, but, eязък!, a quick fire strike, bound for the bottom corner was turned around they base of his post by the ever-alert Ceesay.

Surviving these scares, Dulwich were back in the ascendancy as the sprightly Williams denied the livewire Taylor once more as Rams' defenders went AWOL.

However with the rearguard as pacy as dromedary in the Derby, the slippery attackers of the Hamlet would surely exploit such lassitude before long. The Dulwich faithful would not have long to wait.

A cavernous gap down the middle made for perfect passage for Taylor, darting on to a through ball ahead of, not so, Athletic's central defenders.

Precision not power gave Williams a chance to assuage any guilt at a lack of vigilance from his teammates as he got a telling hand to Taylor's attempt to swing the ball around him.

But for skipper Beveney the chance was still alive, the big Guyanese giving chase as the ball threatened to crawl wide of the upright and at the last tucking the ball inside the post from the acutest of angles beyond it could roll out of play.

Ambling Athletic came within a whisker of conceding once more mere minutes later as the dangerous Taylor beat Williams to a lofted ball beyond the last line of defence, stabbing the ball past him but to his, and Hamlet's, agony wide too of the woodwork.

For such a neophyte custodian, the words young Williams used to berate his sluggish rearguard surely had not been learnt in the classroom.

Where Taylor was balletic, Nugent was battling.

One surging, boring run, muscling and brushing aside all defensive ambush could only be denied a goal by that man Williams as he flew through the air to pluck a steaming 20 yard humdinger of volley out of the air from Dulwich's number nine.

Not to be denied Nugent would have his revenge before the half was up.

The break was four minutes away when Daryl Plummer, quiet but efficient on the left wing, whipped in a cross of exquisite accuracy from the flanks.

Spring-heeled Nugent leapt ahead of earthbound defenders, connected with a thunderbolt of a header, arching over and beyond Williams as every sinew was strained in his effort to keep the ball from his net. He failed and Dulwich led.

Dulwich had worked hard for their lead but come the second half and the industry on which they had built that lead would have to be redirected to other departments as Athletic sought parity with a more offensive structure.

They would have to do it though without their skipper, Michael Harney, an awkward landing after nodding away a dangerous ball putting an end to his participation.

With Moses Ademola, restrained in the opening 45 minutes, to the fore, the firebrand Rams' forward the greatest menace to Dulwich's advantage, sometimes the only menace, Athletic took the game to Dulwich.

Eight minutes in Ademola lashed a rising shot inches over the crossbar after defensive dithering had surrendered the ball to the Rams.

Three minutes later and again the ball was given away, Ademola diving in to meet a right wing cross with a crisp volley ahead of his marker that grazed crossbar.

A fine block from Williams denied Taylor a deserved goal come the 58th minute but Dulwich were soon on the back foot once more.

This time Ademola, an incendiary bomb looking to explode on goal, decided against relying on his colleagues taking a magical mystery tour of final third of the field, a mazy run, down the flank, back up, inside then incisive topped off by a shot on goal from 25 yards but possessing neither the power nor the precision to test Ceesay.

The Rams bluntly battered against the Hamlet ramparts to no avail.

A loud shout for a spot kick when unheeded as Kiffin's back of the box strike was charged down by Chattaway.

A flurry of chances as time ticked away, the Dulwich box packed so full of Rams the animal rights protesters were rallying to the scene.

Ceesay showed his mettle, stretching to tip over a ferocious drive from Luke Adams then making a certainly the match winning save low on his own line, keeping out Greg Andrews' powerful downward header.

CAFC: Gareth Williams; Graham Tydeman; Michael Harney (Capt.) (Terry Fennessy 48); Luke Adams; Richard Blackwell; Sol Patterson-Bohner; Jordan Kiffin; Adam Greenway; Moses Ademola; Evgeniy Kurdov (Greg Andrews 83); Danny Waldren (Arafat Kabuye 84). Substitute not used: Bradley Duke.DHFC: Sheikh Ceesay; Steve May; Billy Chattaway; Benson Paka; Shayne Mangodza; Marc Cumberbatch; Shawn Beveney (Capt); Stanley Muguo; Meshach Nugent; Charlie Taylor (Henry Darko 74); Daryl Plummer (Sebastian Schoburgh 74). Substitutes not used: Michael Kamara; Ricky Dobson; Tim Roberts (GK).Attendance: 207OfficialsReferee: Mr Ian Regan (Ashford, Kent)Assistant Referees: Mr J R Slaney & Mr B ErguvenGoalscoring1-0 CAFC Jordan Kiffin 3rd minute1-1 DHFC Shawn Beveney 26th minute2-1 DHFC Meshach Nugent 41st minute