Liam Blaney reports on the Blues opening fixture

Over 350 fans were in attendance at the Maurice Rebak Stadium, as a late Ryan Lowe goal saw the Blues to a 3-2 victory over Dulwich Hamlet.

There were seven debutants on show for Wingate yesterday, and it was one of those seven that made the breakthrough after just four minutes had been played. Dulwich Hamlet goalkeeper Dillon Barnes received a backpass and delayed slightly too long, giving Ogo Obi, who worked tirelessly all afternoon, an opportunity to close him down and he deflected the ball into the net.

After the goal, Dulwich Hamlet grew into the first half and were strong in possession, without creating too many clear cut chances. Shortly before the hour mark, Andronicos Georgiou found wing-back Ayo Tanimowo, who beat his man on the left side with ease, reaching the by-line before cutting back to Ogo Obi who couldn’t miss. He tapped home from all of two yards to double his tally on his debut.

This goal sparked Dulwich Hamlet into life, however, and they went on to dominate the next 20 minutes. Prince Adegoke made a fine stop, adjusting to push a deflected strike from Luke Wanadio over the bar before, just minutes later, Wanadio went down under a challenge from Toby Byron in the box. He dusted himself down and fired an excellent penalty into the roof of Adegoke’s net to halve the deficit.

Ogo Obi was a thorn in the Hamlet side all afternoon with his pace, strength and excellent work-rate, and after seeing a penalty given at one end, Obi raced through on goal and was brought down by Hamlet keeper Dillon Barnes. With Obi on a hat-trick, he saw his penalty well saved by a strong hand from Barnes, who dived to his left to keep the game alive going into the final 15 minutes.

The Blues had another chance to seal it, with excellent work down the right side, but Destiny Oladipo, on in Obi’s place, was unable to apply the finishing touch at the back post. From this moment, Dulwich took the ball down the other end and Luke Wanadio, who was Hamlet’s best attacking threat, cut inside on the right wing and placed the ball into the far corner to level the scores with 10 minutes to go including additional time.

Many of the Wingate & Finchley fans in the stadium may have been resigned to another opening day disappointment, however, one man had different ideas, and after some excellent work between substitutes Oladipo and Garzon to keep the ball alive in the middle of the park, the ball fell to Ryan Lowe on the edge of the D. He showed excellent composure to keep his head over the ball and drill the ball low and hard into the bottom left hand corner, with Barnes unable to stop it on its way into the net. The fifth goal of the game proved to be its last, as it knocked the stuffing out of a spirited Hamlet side, who were unable to create any clear chances in the remaining five minutes.

Wingate & Finchley: Adegoke; Cracknell; Byron; Talla; Frempah; Iontton (Lowe 40′); Garrett-Douglas; Georgiou (Garzon 76′); Obi (Oladipo 76′); Deslandes (Newton 84′); Tanimowo (Empochontsif 90′).

Unused Subs: none 

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