DULWICH Hamlet boss Hakan Hayrettin said his players were on target to achieve the aim he has set for them after their 4-2 win against Cheshunt at Champion Hill last weekend.
Danny Mills gave Dulwich a 29th-minute lead before goals from Jerome Binnom-Williams and Sean Bonnett-Johnson in first-half stoppage-time.
Antonis Vasiliou pulled one back for the relegation-threatened visitors seven minutes into the second half but Mills restored the Hamlet’s three-goal advantage with 20 minutes left.
Nnamdi Nwachuku made it 4-2 in the 79th minute but Dulwich saw out a relatively comfortable win and are now eighth in the Isthmian League Premier Division table, three points off the play-offs.
It was their fifth win in their last six games and they have only been defeated only four times in 22 games since their 2-1 loss to the Ambers last September left them in the bottom half of the table.
“People who know anything about me and my team, we never really start quick,” Hayrettin said. “There was a reason for that this season, 25 new players that had never played together before.
“Questions may have been asked at the start of the season but now the boys are flying, they’re doing everything they possibly can to maintain the position of strength in the league.
“I think we can continue doing this. I’ve set my target of what we need to do. I’ll keep that between me and the boys but they’re on target.”
Hayrettin added: “We’ve said the results are more important than the performance. In the first half it was a tense affair. But we scored three excellent goals. And the fourth goal was sublime in the second half.
“But we let them back in the game and it’s a little bit jittery then.
“But I think we were better than them. We took our chances really well. It’s important that we keep pushing now and driving on.”
Mills scored his seventh and eighth league goals of the season.
Hayrettin said: “What can we say about Danny? He wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s a good squad player, good front man, leads the line really well for us. He holds it up, he wins his flicks, he’s a threat.
“His [second] goal was amazing, he’s scored many of them this season. It was a great ball by Anthony Jeffrey who I thought was good.”
It was a first goal of the campaign for Bonnett-Johnson.
“I’m happy for him,” Hayrettin said. “He’s a great character, a good lad, doesn’t cause any problems and when he’s out of the team he supports what we’re trying to do. It’s a hell of a finish, he jus side-foots it in, he didn’t slash at it. He’s just placed it and it’s a very good goal.”
Dulwich have eleven games left this season, starting with a trip to bottom side Kingstonian this Saturday.
“We’re playing against teams that have got so much to fight for,” Hayrettin said. “They’re fighting at the other end of the table, no different to Cheshunt.
“That will be a tense, nervy affair but we’ve got to go there with the mindset that we’re ready to play in any conditions, on any surface and try and get a result.
“I’m sure we’ll do our best to do that.”
