Tudors’ manager Joe Deeney is still looking to add to his squad

In the midst of a tough run of fixtures which continued last night (Tuesday) when they were defeated 3-1 by new league leaders Woking, Deeney told match-day reporter Allan Mitchell on Saturday that the club have their sights set on new additions.

Deeney said: “Matt Spring [assistant boss] and myself are well aware of what we need to get us where we want to be and we have identified the players we need to get us to there.

“Any players we bring in must offer us something different to what we already have.

“I’m looking at a box-to-box midfielder who is proven at this level and will add physicality to our midfield.

“We are edging close to a deal for him. We are also edging closer to a loan deal for a creative winger who has superb quality and I’m hoping to get those deals completed this week, but as we all know things can change very quickly in football.

“We still have Steve Cawley, Rob Sinclair and Kyle Connolly to come back into the group so we will have a strong squad with which we can push on with this season.

“I really do not want the season to fizzle out, we have 13 games left, a lot of points to play for and the players are desperate to do well.

“I cannot accuse this group of having a lack of desire to do well, we just need to be more ruthless and clinical and turn draws into wins.

“That’s the most important thing in football – when you are leading, hold on to it and win ugly when required.

“Looking at the stats, if we had seen games out better from winning positions and killed teams off, our league position would be a lot better.”

That lack of a killer instinct was perhaps typified on Saturday when Hemel were denied their first win in the National League South for more than three weeks when they were held 3-3 after a remarkable first-half and late ending at Dulwich Hamlet.

Although it was a superb advert for non-league football, with six goals and drama at the death in front of more than 2,500 people, Hemel will feel it was two points dropped.

After some early Hemel pressure, Dulwich took the lead through Dan Thompson after just five minutes following a neat finish after a quick counter-attack stretched Hemel’s backline.

But the home fans hardly had time to finish celebrating before Joe Howe equalised for the Tudors in the 12th minute.

Hemel grabbed a long-range second goal from captain Jordan Parkes in the 28th minute, a superb strike into the top-right corner after he found himself in a pocket of space on the edge of the area.

Dulwich were giving Hemel too much space around the edge of their own danger zone and Parkes took full advantage on the half-hour, smashing a contender for goal of the season with a brilliant long-range shot that somehow evaded the 6ft 10ins frame of keeper Simon Jørgensen and looped into the net.

It was the super-skipper’s 11th goal of the season in all competitions.

As half-time approached, the hosts started to look dangerous and they pulled a scrappy goal back, taking advantage of some sloppy defending with Thompson getting his second after tucking it in underneath Tudors’ stopper Laurie Walker.

It was frustrating for Hemel as they had looked good value for their two-goal lead.

Disaster struck in the 89th minute when sub Decarrey Sheriff saw his attempted effort strike a hand in the Hemel box. The referee appeared to award a corner, only to change his mind under pressure from Dulwich’s players and supporters alike, pointing to the spot. Sheriff stepped up to tuck the penalty away to level the scores at 3-3.

Walker summed it up by saying he hadn’t seen such a strange decision in all of his long career.

Despite all this, the point moved Hemel up one position in the league table, from 14th to 13th.

The draw was some salve following their wounding 4-1 loss to league leaders Torquay United at Vauxhall Road last Tuesday night.

Frankie Musonda netted a consolation headed goal from a corner for the injury-hit Tudors in added time at the end of the game.

Next up for the Tudors are eighth-placed Concord Rangers at Vauxhall Road this Saturday.