Hungerford started brightly and it was Joel Rollinson who had an early shot from a corner that went just over. On 8 minutes Niko Muir forced an error from Dulwich’s keeper Grainger, but with the goal gapping he tried to find Rollinson and a misplaced pass allow Dulwich to clear.

On 16 minutes Hungerford were sloppy and lost possession in midfield allowing Dulwich’s Clarke to run at the Hungerford defence, Kyle Bailey could only bring down the Dulwich attacker just outside the box. The resulting free kick from Nana Owusu was tremendously struck giving Tyla Dickinson no chance and giving Dulwich the lead.

The game after that was a scrappy affair with both teams giving up possession to easily, Hungerford were totting up yellow cards with Muir, Bailey and Louis McGrory all ending up in the referees notebook in the first 30 minutes. Rhys Tyler and Jake Evans both had speculative efforts on goal but in truth they worried the crowd behind the goal more than Grainger.

Then just after 30 minutes Danny Mills doubled the lead for the host heading in a Porter cross that went in via the bar and post despite Dickinson’s best efforts. Two moments of quality in an otherwise unmemorable half gave Dulwich a two goal lead at the break

Niko Muir had an early chance in the second half for Hungerford but his shot was straight at Grainger. Dulwich also had some chances with Mills and Owusu their danger men. Hungerford though were having more of the ball in this half and looked more lightly to score. Perhaps they should have mid-way through the half when Sammy Ompreon forced Grainger into a good save and then Rollinson had a shot that was beaten away by Grainger onto the outside of the post.

As the game neared the end Hungerford really pushed on and Muir had a tremendous shot saved by Grainger, Rollinson got on to the rebound but was fouled in the box and Hungerford were awarded a rare penalty. The Crusaders have had some penalty issues since the departure of Ryan Seager but this time Niko Muir stepped up and smashed the spot kick into the top left corner of the net, a terrific penalty and an answer to the penalty taker debate. Muir certainly deserved his goal for all his hard work leading the line in the game.

Sadly there was not enough time left to force an equaliser as Dulwich went into game management mode, Ben Allen had a shot deep into injury time but it sailed over the bar along with Hungerford’s hopes of anything from the game

Team: Dickinson, Tyler, Jones, Bailey, Berry-Hargreaves (Gyebi), McGrory, Evans (Ompreon), Smith, Ofosu (Allen), Rollinson, Muir Subs Not Used: Rusby, Lynch

Half Time : 2 – 0
Attendance : 3176
Star Man: Niko Muir