Next Match – Dulwich Hamlet – Away

Following two home matches last week, City are back on their travels on Saturday with a trip to south London to face Dulwich Hamlet.

The abandonment of November’s home match and a frozen pitch causing the postponement of the rearranged fixture last month means that this will be the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

And City should start it in confident mood given Dulwich’s recent form and their own encouraging result at Chelmsford in their last away match.

Hamlet lie in 18th position with seven fewer points than City and are surely mindful of a drop in form after a successful run up to the new year which had followed an indifferent start to the campaign.

Such inconsistency explains why they have spent the whole season in the lower half of the table.

Only one point has been won from the last seven matches with eighteen goals conceded, making the 58 conceded in total the worst in the division.

Four of their nine defeats at Champion Hill have come in their most recent outings there which suggests that the largest home attendances by far in the division must also be the most optimistic and patient.

Top scorer with nine goals is Danny Mills who has netted a total of ten against City for five different clubs and will be one to watch carefully.

However, City should be facing a team with far less confidence than the one they faced on their last visit to Champion Hill in November 2021 when Hamlet looked a very good bet for the title and made easy work of their deflated opponents in a 3-0 win.

The gates were locked with 3334 inside the tight ground that day and only the downhearted visiting fans could not have enjoyed the spectacle.

Although City had visited Champion Hill in the days when Fisher Athletic shared the ground, we have only been facing Dulwich in the League since 2018 and were victors in the two matches before last season’s defeat.

As Tom Smith has scored five of the eleven City goals against these opponents, he will surely be looking forward to being selected to start on Saturday!

The terracing on three sides of the Champion Hill ground is rather limited with flat standing areas in front while cover is at a premium.

However the high Tommy Jover main stand is a posher affair and even has a gable on top with a clock, while the seats below offer an excellent view of the pitch with no obstructing pillars.

There are plenty of places to eat and drink in the surrounding neighbourhood while supporters will not go short of refreshments inside the ground.

For those supporters wishing to travel this is definitely a fixture where it is advisable to purchase tickets in advance.

The last three Saturday matches at Champion Hill have seen attendances of around 3000 and those wishing to pay on the day are likely to face a long queue at the turnstiles and even the possibility of not seeing the match.

Tickets can be bought from the Dulwich website which also contains useful information for visiting supporters.

The 118 mile trip from Bath will take around 3 hours and the Supporters Club is running a coach, seats for which can be booked at its website.

The train journey from Bath Spa will take around the same time involving changes at Paddington and London Bridge and a five minute walk to the ground from East Dulwich station.

Whichever means of travel you use to get to the match, have a safe journey and hopefully the reward of three more points for the City!