Dulwich Hamlet 1-4 Millwall - I've got no problems with Millwall's approach at all, says Gavin Rose

DULWICH HAMLET  1-4  MILLWALL
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 30^th July 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Champion Hill Stadium

DULWICH HAMLET manager Gavin Rose says Millwall’s physical approach will stand his side in good stead for their Ryman Premier League campaign, which starts on Saturday week.

Clinical Millwall came away from Champion Hill with a 4-1 victory, but Rose admitted afterwards that he was surprised by Millwall’s physical approach after the Lions won the foul count 24-4 in this pre-season friendly.

Last season’s Ryman League Division One South champions created their fair share of chances against a young Millwall side, but the Lions were clinical in and around the six-yard box.

Dulwich Hamlet keeper Phil Wilson saved Aiden O’Brien’s penalty but the Millwall striker reacted first to drill the rebound into the roof of the net to give Millwall a 31^st minute lead.

The yellow-booted striker doubled Millwall’s lead just 135 seconds later when he punished Dulwich Hamlet on the counter attack, before his strike partner, Alfie Pavey, 17, who scored 124 goals in 54 games in Maidstone United’s Academy side last season, tapped home a third before the break.

Millwall’s highly-rated prospect, central midfielder Fred Onyedinma slammed home a fourth, before Dulwich Hamlet’s Turkish midfield magician Erhun Oztumer produced a moment of sheer quality with a 30-yard chip to give the home side a consolation.

Rose, 36, admitted tonight’s work-out will prepare his side for their opening Ryman Premier League game of the season, against much-fancied Lowestoft Town at Champion Hill on 10 August.

“Millwall played in a way, a typical direct Millwall approach with quality and I think that surprised us,” he said.

“They got in our faces at times, even though I still thought we passed the ball fairly well for a team at our level. The fact that they got in our faces surprised us a little bit and it sort of took us out of our comfort zone.

“I felt that was really good. It’s a good exercise for us so we can look at it in terms of how we’ll cope when teams try and play the same way against us in our league, which will definitely happen.

“I feel when we go forward we don’t secure numbers well enough behind us at the back and that’s something that we’ve talked about all pre-season.

“Today the boys learnt the hard way, which is often the way you find with players, especially in this level, that they learn the hard way. They won’t forget that lesson now because they’ve lost in front of a few hundred people and against a good team as well, so now when I do make that point and the rest of the coaching staff make that point, at least they’ll remember it because they’ve been hurt by it.”

When Rose was told that Millwall committed 24 fouls against his side, the Dulwich Hamlet boss replied: “I don’t think those 24 you saw were seen by the ref because he seemed to let a few go!

“Physicality, I’ve got no problem with that!  I think that’s a south London way of playing. We’re pretty similar. I think teams will find it difficult to play against us as well at times in our league. I’ve got no problem with the approach from Millwall at all. I just think we needed to cope with it a lot better.”

Millwall created the first chance of the game after only 76 seconds when Alex Woodyard played the ball into O’Brien, who played the ball inside to an unmarked Pavey, who took two touches before sweeping a right-footed shot towards goal from 12-yards, which was blocked by Phil Wilson’s legs.

Dulwich Hamlet’s first chance should have been taken inside the opening eight minutes when Ellis Green floated in a free-kick from the left and the impressive Jerome Walker glanced his towering header wide from six-yards.

Millwall’s intentions were known from the off and they committed eight fouls inside the opening fifteen minutes, some of which during the game should have been punished with yellow cards, but Erith-based referee Mr Aji Ajibola left his cards in his pocket.

Millwall left-winger Walter Figuera danced his way out of trouble on the touchline on the halfway line before releasing O’Brien with a fine pass but the striker took a touch, cut inside and rolled his shot agonisingly past the foot of the far post from sixteen-yards.

Walker, whose pace and talent was killing Millwall left-back Callum Webb, had a shot on target for Dulwich Hamlet in the 20^th minute.

Green whipped in a corner from the left, which Millwall cleared and the ball came out to Walker who cracked a right-footed half-volley from 30-yards, which forced visiting keeper Tom Beadle to pluck out of the air above his head.

Dulwich Hamlet asked some more questions of the Millwall defence five minutes later when another pacy run down the right by Walker finished with Harry Ottaway missing a scissor kick inside the penalty area.  The loose ball ran to Oztumer, who cut the ball back to Billy Crook and the former Metropolitan Police central midfielder unleashed a right-footed drive from 22-yards, which deflected wide of the right-hand post.

But despite these chances, Dulwich Hamlet fell behind when their defence fell asleep following a penalty save.

O’Brien reached the by-line and cut the ball back to Figuera, who was tripped by Crook and referee Mr Ajibola pointed to the spot.

O’Brien stepped up and his right-footed penalty produced a brilliant low save to his left by Wilson, but the ball came back out to O’Brien’s feet and he lashed the rebound into the roof of the net.

Rose said: “Strikers have done what he should do, but our defenders, only Lewis Goncalves followed it in. I’m quite disappointed with our boys on the edge of the box not following it in, almost resigned to the fact that the guy would score first attempt.  We’re quite disappointed with the fact that only Lewis followed in, like he should do as a defender.”

Millwall swiftly doubled their lead when Pavey released O’Brien through on goal and to his credit the Millwall number 10 could have gone down after Wilson came rushing off his line to smother the ball.

But O’Brien kept his composure to dance inside and slot his shot inside the bottom near corner from a tight angle, despite the attempts of Dulwich Hamlet left-back Ahmed Deen to get back and clear the ball off the line.

Rose praised O’Brien for staying on his feet when other professionals may have dived to win a penalty and get the keeper sent-off.

He said: “He seemed like he wanted to score himself, fair play to him. He was an honest lad and deserved his goal.

“Again, we were too exposed, not recognised the danger early enough as a back four and that’s what we got punished by.”

Dulwich Hamlet created a decent chance through their trademark slick football when Oztumer and right-back Mathieu Boyer linked up well before Walker cut the ball back to Boyer who whipped in a first time cross with his right foot and Oztumer hooked his right-footed scissor kick wide of the near post from ten-yards.

But Dulwich Hamlet were hit on the counter attack when Millwall raced into a flattering 3-0 lead in the 43^rd minute.

Walker cut inside and rode a sliding tackle by Webb and whipped in a telling cross into a dangerous area, but no-one in a pink and blue shirt was on hand to apply the finish the move deserved.

Millwall counter-attacked and the ball was played up field to O’Brien, who released Woodyard on the right who then found right-back Joshua Siafa, who cut the ball across the face of the goal for Pavey to sweep home a first-time right-footed shot into the corner from six-yards.

Rose said: “Again, it highlights the point. We were in possession and basically too many people were looking at the ball and hoping and not thinking about what might happen if we do lose the ball.  The ball got turned over and they broke.

“We actually had two players back at the time and they had none forward and they still break and end up scoring so it shows that we weren’t engaging higher up the pitch and thinking about defending.

“Having said that it was a good goal from young Alfie, who I remember last season done so well because he played against my Academy. He’s a good, young player with a good future.”

Neither Rose nor Millwall coach Neil Harris made a substitution at the break and with the season drawing closer, Rose said: “Our season starts in a few weeks’ time. You can’t be doing 45 minutes at this stage of the year.  I wanted to be ready for the start of the season.  I’m pretty sure teams in our league will be starting to play 60-70-90 minutes as well.  If they don’t, it will be a big shock when you can only make three substitutions on a Saturday in a league match.”

Millwall came out of the traps very quickly and were unlucky not to score a fourth goal after only 55 seconds of the second half.

Onyedinma released Pavey through on goal and he stroked a right-footed shot against the near post with Wilson beaten.

The home side failed to clear the ball and Wilson smothered the ball at O’Brien’s feet and Deen was on hand to sweep the ball away before it trickled over the line.

Dulwich Hamlet squandered another excellent chance to score in the 52^nd minute.

Boyer clipped an excellent diagonal pass which sailed over Siafa’s head to pick out Green out on the left and the former Maidstone United winger took the ball on before whipping in a cross towards the far post.  Walker and Ottaway both jumped for the same ball, but Ottaway planted his header straight at Beadle at his near post from only a couple of yards from goal.

Dulwich played their slick one-touch passing again when Deen and Oztumer linked up well before Ethan Pinnock powered a first-time left-footed drive which screamed past the near post from 35-yards.

Oztumer then swung in a free-kick from the right which was punched away by Beadle and the ball fell to skipper Peter Adeniyi, whose shot was blocked in a crowded goal-mouth with Beadle on the deck.

Rose was frustrated when Millwall got in behind his defence to score their fourth goal in the 56^th minute.

O’Brien reached the by-line before he cut the ball back to Onyedinma, who had wriggled free of Crook’s marking to slam his first-time right-footed volley into the net from four-yards.

Rose said: “We’ve heard that he’s been looked at by many clubs and we could see his composure on the ball, his athleticism is very good, so you can understand that.

“He’s attacked the first post and the ball’s come across the face and he’s got his just deserves.  It was bad defending from us. We didn’t clear our lines anyway and didn’t recover afterwards.”

Rose added: “They’re clinical!  When the ball came across a lot of their goals were tap-ins. If you think about it and when the balls coming across the goal, they wanted to get their first with five-yard tap ins, some were two-yard tap ins for their goals and we had so many balls flash across their goal when no-one who actually wanted to get across the face to score that tap in.

“It looks simple but you’ve got to have the guts and that bravery to get on and get that goal so fair play to them.  They’re on the training ground, they do a lot of that sort of thing and that’s where you sort to see that rustiness at the sharp end from our boys.

“I think as the season goes on, we’ll be getting those tap-ins as well. It takes a little bit more time for our boys to get their habits right.  They’ve had a break in the summer just like the professional boys do but the professional boys will be in fit as they need to be in two weeks’ time whereas our boys may take a month or six weeks’ because they’ve got less time to train.”

Millwall committed their sixteenth foul of the game in the 58^th minute when Crook was brought down by Sid Nelson and Green went for power with his right-footed free-kick from 25-yards, which cleared the crossbar.

Dulwich Hamlet should have got on the scoresheet in the 66^th minute when Green burst down the right before he clipped a cross towards the near post but the diminutive Oztumer, who scored 28 goals in 48 appearances for the club last season, planted his header straight at Beadle.

Rose added: “Decent chances, on another day we’d may have scored from them. Things didn’t go out way sometimes in the box.”

But Oztumer wasn’t going to be thwarted for too long as he produced a quality finish to give the home fans some cheer with fifteen minutes remaining.

He stole the ball off a Millwall defender and noticed that Beadle was off his line and sent a classy left-footed 35-yard chip sailing over the embarrassed keeper’s head, into the roof of an empty net.

Rose hailed his goalscorer’s finish and attitude.

“Excellent finish,” he said.  “He nicked the ball off one of the Millwall players, he sees the keeper of his line and it’s a great finish!

“It’s not something that we’re surprised about! Erhun can do that so it’s no surprise.

“He didn’t have a great game, especially first half by his own standards but the bottom line is he lets of little bits of quality which probably anybody else just can’t do and he never stops working so it’s a testament even when he’s not playing at his very, very optimum, he always gives 100% for the team.”

When asked whether Oztumer is too good to be playing at this level of football, Rose replied: “I don’t know if there’s any such thing as too good if you’re playing at that certain level.   I think that would be disrespectful to the teams that we play against, but having said that I do feel he can play a lot higher than the Ryman League, but too say too good, I wouldn’t want to make those comments.

“I think that’s a little disrespectful to the teams that we have to play against because there are other players in this league who arguably could play higher and for whatever reason they’re not.  There might be one or two people that could say the same thing.

“He’s got lots of quality and we enjoy having him and I’m sure the supporters do, but at some stage he will go on to a higher level of football definitely.”

Wilson made a flying save to deny O’Brien his hat-trick towards the end when he dived to his left to push away the header, which was looping towards the top corner of the net.

Rose said: “Phil is one of those, again it takes a bit of time to get his sharpness going, but he’s brave, experienced and a very, very good shot stopper as well.  It’s pretty much expected from Phil.”

Profligate Dulwich Hamlet missed another chance when Crook unleashed a powerful drive which screamed agonisingly wide of the near post at the death.

When asked about positives and negatives from their second defeat in nine pre-season games, Rose replied: “The positives is that we’ve played against a team that will play at the sort of tempo that we’ll face in our league, maybe not as fit for 90 minutes but definitely that idea of playing and working hard and I think that was a good awakening for us. I take that as a positive.

“The negative was I think when we lost a few goals a few of our players had their heads down and that’s something we don’t encourage that here. There was a period in the second half after Erhun scored we probably could’ve scored two goals. That’s how football matches are. If you think you’re beaten and you obviously are beaten.”

Rose added: “I thought we had a few chances to be honest.  Millwall had a few chances and they capitalised on a few of our mistakes and missed but I also think for the lions share we shaded possession.

“I think we had some very good chances in both halves and on another day we’d probably would have scored.

“I’m not too overly worried about the margin of defeat because on another day it could’ve easily had been four-four so I’m not concerned about that.

“I just think it’s prominent that we lost 4-1 just so you remember it and you remember what happened a lot more as players and as a management team, because if it was 4-4 it papers over the cracks sometimes.”

Meanwhile, Dulwich Hamlet travel to traditional rivals Bromley for their penultimate pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Looking forward to their trip to Hayes Lane to play Mark Goldberg’s side, Rose said: “Bromley are obviously a competitive team, they’re Conference South, but again it will be another one that gives us a little eye opener where we need to be.

“We would hope to be organised enough because the season starts the following Saturday and we just have to make sure that we’re competitive and we’re ready for that following Saturday game.

“We do have one game against Crystal Palace on the Tuesday after that but the Bromley game is to check where we are as a barometer to how we’re progressing as a club.”

Dulwich Hamlet:  Phil Wilson, Mathieu Boyer (Tyler Myers 77), Ahmed Deen (Ryan James 77), Ethan Pinnock, Peter Adeniyi, Lewis Goncalves, Jerome Walker (Olu Lapite 77), Billy Crook, Harry Ottaway (Paul Vines 81), Erhun Oztumer, Ellis Green.
Subs:  Junior James, Paul Idem, Kevin James, Kershaney Samuels

Goal:  Erhun Oztumer 75

Millwall:  Tom Beadle, Joshua Siafa, Callum Webb, Niall McManus (Ben Thompson 64), Sid Nelson, Jake Goodman, Alex Woodyard, Fred Onyedinma, Aiden O’Brien, Alfie Pavey (Kris Twardek 86), Walter Figuera (Nico Thongvivat 81).
Subs: Keaton Wood, Max Goodman, Ritchie Danquah

Goals:  Aiden O’Brien 31, 33, Alfie Pavey 43, Fred Onyedinma 56

Attendance: 426
Referee: Mr Aji Ajibola (Erith)
Assistants:  Mr Gerry Heron (Beckenham) & Mr Steve Perry (Barnehurst)