On a Saturday when our local Ryman League sides became victims of the bad weather once again Dulwich Hamlet had centre stage for their basement premier division battle with Grays Athletic.

Croydons game against Hendon was called off after a pitch inspection as was Whyteleafes home game against Wealdstone.

There was little comfort for the Whyteleafe players who themselves made a 160 mile round trip midweek for 10 minutes of football at Braintree.

Croydon Athletics fourth round FA Vase game away at Cove was also called off.

Dulwich Hamlet worked hard so that their game with Grays could go ahead and they were cheered on by a larger crowd than they have been getting recently.

The script looked right for a Dulwich win but the opposition had other ideas.

The game started in a lively fashion and good efforts by Sheldon Brown and Carl Bartley were dealt with confidently by the Grays keeper.

Dulwich continued to run the game and should have gone in at half time comfortably ahead.

But the hot cuppa at half time seemed to have warmed Grays up far more than Dulwich and minutes after the restart a defensive mix up saw the visitors take the lead totally against the run of play from a close range header by Andy Douglas.

Minutes later Grays made it 2-0 and the controversial manner of the goal made it clear that, once again, this was not going to be Dulwichs day.

Douglas seemed to help the ball on with his hand as he went through on goal to shoot past the new despairing manager and keeper Les Cleevely.

Despite furious protests the goal was allowed to stand.

Dulwich introduced substitute Mervin Abrahams who promptly responded with a well taken goal to give his side some hope.

But with time running out it was Grays who nearly scored again when a shot grazed the post.

If Dulwich do fail to stay up as now seems increasingly likely they will surely reflect this game as points thrown away especially as they dominated the game for long periods.

I hope Les Cleevely can save this famous old club from the prospect of Division One football next season.

In my opinion, the prospect of two Division Ones is a ridiculous one as it will create too many mis-matches.

Saturdays matches Ryman Premier: Canvey Island v Dulwich Hamlet; Maidenhead United v Croydon FC. Ryman Division One: Aylesbury United v Whyteleafe. Ryman Division Three: Croydon Athletic v Wingate & Finchley.