By BARRY LANK

They tried to hold up a sandwich shop when their only weapon was a hammer.

They couldn’t open the register. So they ran.

Police caught them two blocks away.

Some criminals should just find a new career.

Police say Nicholas Gabiele, 20, and Matthew Woglom, 21, both of Tottenville, attempted to hold up the Dongan Hills restaurant at 5:24 a.m Wednesday morning.

After they had arrived at the Hylan Boulevard shop in a stolen car, they entered wearing ski masks, authorities said. Woglom allegedly held a hammer to an employee’s head while Gabiele tried to open the register, police told the Staten Island Advance.

He never could figure out that register.

When the police found them a few minutes later, the hammer and ski masks were still in the car, authorities said. They are charged with second- and third-degree attempted robbery, with the emphasis on “attempted.”

On a more successful note, they also do merit charges of fourth-degree grand larceny for the stolen car, plus fourth- and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

If the alleged robbers are bad at their job, by the way, the place they tried to rob apparently isn’t. The sandwich shop listed at the 1910 Hylan Blvd. crime site is Not Just Bagels, which gets four stars and rave review on Citysearch.