Hakan Hayrettin admitted it was a “frustrating” afternoon as Dulwich Hamlet’s play-off hopes were hit when they could only draw 0-0 against Whitehawk at Champion Hill last weekend.
Dulwich failed to score for the first time in 23 Isthmian League Premier Division games and are six points off the play-offs with ten games left.
Hayrettin was disappointed his side didn’t give the majority of the 2,644 in East Dulwich more to shout about.
“Frustrating, for me,” Hayrettin said on Dulwich’s YouTube channel. “Grateful for the point and that we didn’t lose the game, but frustrating we didn’t perform to anywhere near our capabilities. There seemed to be a lethargy about our performance, we were sluggish, sloppy, I don’t think we played particularly well.
“When we did have good opportunities we didn’t take them. Sometimes it’s going to happen like that. It was one of those days when we didn’t play particularly well. But we got the point.”
The match was delayed as one of the officials got stuck in traffic.
Hayrettin wasn’t using that as an excuse.
He said: “It may have [affected things], for both teams. I thought they were organised, resilient, they didn’t really cause us a threat. I’ve had Charlie Walker before, he’s a good lad, good footballer but he’s not going to run in behind.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game and that’s the biggest concern for me. Saying that, we didn’t lose. But I thought we deserved to give our supporters a little bit better than we did.
“I had the Whitehawk chairman [saying] it was an honour to be here, it was the biggest crowd his team have played in front of.
Hayrtettin added: “A clean sheet, he pulled off a good save, R’avan [Constable].
“Ten games to go now, we’ve got to get as many points as we can to get into the play-offs. We’re not going backwards here, but we could have done better.
“[The approach won’t be] different to what it’s been all season, just focus on one game at a time. We analyse them, see what we can do and go from there.”
Hayrettin marked a year as manager the previous weekend. The Hamlet were relegated from the National League South on the final day and after a slow start this season Hayrettin has led the side to within reach of the play-offs.
“It was tough at the beginning for everyone concerned for different reasons,” Hayrettin reflected. “It was tough to accept we went down by one goal, not even by one point. Emotions were up and down, we went down by one goal and I don’t think we deserved that because when I came in we picked up a lot of points.
“I had an absence of leave from the club because I lost my mother, that may have had a significant role in where we ended up. The team were in capable hands with Terry [Harris, his assistant], but it was a tough time.
“Decisions had to be made for the best. I decided to make an overhaul and bring in a brand-new squad together, and that’s what we did.
“It took a bit of time and it has taken a bit of time for the team to get to grips with how I want to do things. When you put all the players into the melting pot it took them a little bit of time to adjust from where they came, 90 per cent of them had never played together before.
“It was frustrating in the beginning, to be honest, because I was finding it difficult to get my point of view across. But the boys from day one have been absolutely fantastic and now we can see a true reflection of where we want to be, and long my that continue.
“It’s a great football club. I used to come here before and think, ‘corr, I’d love to manage this football club one day’. And I got the opportunity. When a team like Dulwich Hamlet comes calling it’s very hard to resist. I had another offer on the table from a National League team but this is something that I had to do because it’s a massive football club with, by the way, fantastic people running it. I’m talking about everybody connected to the club. People behind the scenes, the chairman, everybody is all in it together and all want the team and the club to do as well as they possibly can.
“Not that other football clubs don’t, but this is unique, you have to experience it, be here to see it – and I just love coming in to work.”
The Hamlet host Lewes at Champion Hill on Saturday.
