Kentish Football 
bromvdulw261203
Thursday 01st September 2005
Falana's equaliser proves priceless in Boxing Day cracker
Bromley 2-2 Dulwich Hamlet
Ryman League Division One South
Boxing Day, Friday 26 December 2003
Stephen McCartney reports from The Clive Christian Stadium
Wade Falana proved why he is such a fans favourite at Hayes
Lane.
Replacing Mark Hammond (dead leg) after only twenty one
minutes, Falana, who is playing for no financial reward, popped up to give
Bromley an 83rd minute deserved equaliser in front of Bromley's highest crowd
of the season, against local rivals, and third placed Dulwich Hamlet.
After returning to Hayes Lane following five months at AFC
Wimbledon, Falana praised the Bromley faithful for their support.
He said: It's a game you want to play in. You want
to play in the big games, and they don't come any bigger than against Dulwich
Hamlet on Boxing Day.
"It was great to come on, I got a great reception from the
Bromley supporters, and I really thank them for that. They really give
me some great support here, they really do get behind me."
Bromley started the game brightly, with the wind against them
in the first half, but their former striker, Charley Side had the best
opportunity to break the deadlock after eleven minutes.
Teenager Russell Bedford threaded a through ball that took
Bromley skipper Danny Smith out of the game. With only Bromley
goalkeeper Danny Harwood to beat, Side lashed the shot high and wide off
target from 20 yards.
The Bromley faithful got behind their team throughout the game
and they saw Hamlet go close again after 21 minutes but Alex O'Brien's free
kick clipped wide of the far post from the left hand side.
Falana flicked the ball into Adolph Amoako's path and with his
back to goal was held back by Danny Akrwright. The Hayes Lane crowd
roared for a red card for the last Dulwich defender, but referee Mr M John
must have given all his cards before Christmas, and showed only a yellow
card instead of red.
Dulwich midfielder, Francis Quarm drifted a 20 yard shot over
Harwood's bar following prolific goalscorer Omari Coleman had a sniff at goal
firing a shot narrowly wide of the left upright, his shot taking a deflection.
Bromley created some useful chances in an eight minute spell
before the break.
Steve Potterill's cross found Falana on the by-line and Scott
Ward made a brave high save at the near post. This was followed by
another Potterilll cross that was agonisingly close to finding Amoako who
stuck out a leg inside the penalty area.
Danny Smith's cross was headed down and well wide by Falana
before Ward was tested by Bromley defender, Mark Willy following Michael
Harney's corner kick.
But the game came to life in the second half and following new
manager's Alan Walker's half time talk, Bromley were awarded a penalty kick
after the ball bounced up and struck Justin Bowen's hand inside the
penalty area.
Scott Ward, however, produced a brilliant save diving to his
left to push Amoako's right footed spot kick onto the right upright and out to
safety.
But the Assistant Referee over the far side flagged and the
referee gave Amaoko a second bite of the cherry to the disgust of the visiting
players which resulted in a yellow card for David Moore as Ward was penalised
for moving too early.
Once calm was restored, Amoako went the opposite direction,
firing low into the bottom left hand corner of the net to give the Ravens a
49th minute lead and to score his 12th goal of the season.
Dulwich responded with the smallest player on the pitch, Side,
rising high to narrowly head wide of the left post and Coleman fired wide of
the near post following a pacey run down the left just before the hour mark.
Bowen headed home from close range what he thought was the
equaliser after 63 minutes and as the players celebrating the flag was already
raised and the referee blew his whistle to distinguish the celebrations and
ruled the goal out.
But once again, Side who always nets against his former club,
showed his class and levelled for Hamlet only two minutes after Bowen's
disappointment.
Side muscled his way past Joe Vines and calmly despatched the
shot low to Harwood's right to find the corner of the net from 16 yards.
The equaliser silenced the vocal home faithful before Ward
produced two world class saves in a space of a minute.
Amoako had beaten the Hamlet defence and with only Ward to beat
the goalkeeper stretched high to his left to block the shot.
Ward then produced the save of the match a minute later.
Bromley midfielder, John Wilfort unleashed a fierce shot from 20 yards and
must have thought he had scored, but Ward dived to his right to touch the shot
against the left upright.
Bromley's Mark Willy was harshly penalised by the match referee
with only fifteen minutes remaining giving Dulwich Hamlet a penalty.
The ball was kicked from under Quarm's foot by Willy and the
Hamlet defender went to ground inside the penalty area.
However, Coleman gave the Hamlet fans a late Christmas present,
firing low into the bottom right corner of the net to score his fifteenth
goal of the season.
To their credit, Bromley showed character to come back.
Their manager, Alan Walker, in his first game in charge, made a substitution
replacing Potterill with strong midfielder John Myatt. The change
brought boos from some fans but Myatt responded positively, playing his part
in the equaliser.
He threaded the ball into the Hamlet penalty area and Amoako
did ever so well keeping the ball in play. He cut the ball back from the
by-line for Falana to hook the ball home from close range to give the Ravens a
deserved equaliser seven minutes from time.
Bromley: Danny Harwood, Steve Potterill (John
Myatt 82), Mark Willy (Jason McKoy 89), Joe Vines, Colin Luckett, Danny Smith
(Capt), Mark Hammond (Wade Falana 21), Peter Overton, Adolph Amoako, John
Wilfort, Michael Harney. Subs: Andy Hunt, Lloyd Hume
Dulwich Hamlet: Scott Ward, Lee Akers, Danny Arkwright,
Alex O'Brien (Capt), Gavin Dayes, David Moore (Jason Turley 90), Russell
Bedford, Francis Quarm, Omari Coleman, Justin Bowen, Charley Side (Warren
Haughton 79). Subs: Meshach Nugent, Ronnie Green, Danny Ward
Attendance: 372
Referee: Mr M John
Assistants: Mr G Smith and Mr D Raval
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd