Dulwich boss Gavin Rose labelled his players an ‘embarrassment’ after the promotion chasers fell to a 3-2 defeat against lowly VCD Athletic on Saturday.
In a blow to Hamlet’s automatic promotion hopes from the Ryman Premier League a Ricky Sappleton hat-trick gave the Dartford side a win that moved them out of the relegation zone.
Goals from Ryan Moss and Nyren Clunis could not salvage a point for the Pink and Blues and Rose was scathing in post match comments about his side. He told the News: “The boys had a terrible attitude seeming to believe they could just turn up against VCD and get the points.” Rose added: “VCD to their credit put in a professional performance and they went about their job in the right way. But our players were an embarrassment to the club.
“It’s up to the players to work out why they went into the game with that attitude but we have expectations at the club and they have to meet them.” The Hamlet gaffer stated that with one of the club’s biggest budgets ever the players now have to perform week in and week out in the season run in. He said: “Bringing people in now can have a disruptive effect and the players at the club have a chance to do the job of getting the club promotion.
“We don’t want to see another blip like Saturday or we might have to bring in people who can do the job. “We also have to remember they are human too and although Saturday was negative we have to remember they have done a lot of positive things this season.” The defeat left Hamlet in second place in the table, after Saturday’s games, with Hampton & Richmond above them by two points and with a game in hand on the Southwark side.
There was good news coming out of the club this week as Rose confirmed that key defender Ethan Pinnock is making a quicker than expected recovery from his pulled groin injury. The Hamlet boss stated that he should be back in contention for selection in a fortnights time as he is already back jogging in training. Hamlet hoped to play their twice postponed league fixture against Lewes last night, a game that finished after the News went to press, to find out the result visit www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet.