The maîtres d'hôtel know me well and let me sign the bill

"Adult?" asked the gate man as my friend Christian went through ahead of me. I met Christian 20 years ago, as part of a young and noisy support to be found behind the goal Dulwich Hamlet were attacking, known to all as "the rabble". Now in his thirties, he has been fortunate to retain a youthful appearance, augmented with a neatly trimmed greying beard, so we were unsure whether he was being invited to consider applying for a discount as a young person or senior citizen.

There are a couple of clubs where I thought of a line from a poem as a title for a post, and work through for more surreal titles when I visit again. So Warrington Town gets Under Milk Wood, and Burgess Hill Town gets John Betjeman's Executive with its reference to every roadside hostelry from here to Burgess Hill. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not known to any maîtres d'hôtel, and the only bit of the bill I get to sign is where it says "please charge my card".

I attended Dulwich Hamlet's last game of last season at Burgess Hill, in which we were seeking to secure promotion, and they to avoid relegation. They were successful, we were not, so, by coincidence, my first Dulwich game of this season was at the same location. As last year, this was late in the season: having steered clear of London during the Olympics, a couple of things kept me away for longer. I think we are now allowed to use the words London and Olympics in the same blog post, and the organising committee have not copyrighted them for all eternity, in the same way the Canadians can sing their national anthem after the Vancouver Winter Games let go of the words "glorious and free".

Peter Adeniyi

The game started in the conditions of a proper autumn day, overcast and having rained earlier. Finding the sports mode was offering speeds that were too slow, I went to shutter priority. Both sides had a substantial amount of dark colour in their kit. Indeed, in some competitions, Dulwich's dark blue and Burgess Hill's black would be considered a clash of socks, hindering the referee in identifying whose feet were in which position in a tackle.

Since my last visit, Burgess Hill have changed their main colour from yellow to green, not a choice I would have made in a ground bordered on two sides with conifers, I can see players blending in to the background on a wet Saturday afternoon in January.

The Burgess Hill kit, sported by an unnamed player - numbers on the front, you know it makes sense

It takes about 5 or 6 appearances for me to recognise players, so being an irregular attender at Dulwich games, I have the best chance with those who have been in the team for the last couple of years, like Nyren Clunis, here being closely watched by Mishi and Liam from the committee.

There are some new players I can recognise quickly, as they are popular with the terraces. One such is Erhun Öztümer, who has joined us on returning home to London after playing professionally in Turkey. Recognition is aided by his being our penalty taker: reports suggest we have been good at drawing defenders into committing fouls in the penalty area. Most people think he will be snapped up by a club at a higher level before long, but are enjoying his play, and goals, whilst he is with us.

Erhun Öztümer

By the second half, the clouds had cleared, giving a fine autumn sunset on the deciduous trees behind the conifers.

Once the sun had gone down, I did not get many shots, as Burgess Hill have an arrangement of lights with two pylons along each side (not on the corners). This is the same arrangement as Warrington Town, and, although the light did seem a bit brighter than at Warrington, it was still even without the bright spots that are helpful for those of us working with consumer kit.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen on the club website here.