With pre-season completed, Dulwich Hamlet manager Gavin Rose has a clear idea of his game plan as the 2019/20 National League South season begins this weekend.

Having brought in a number of new players and introduced a more intensive training schedule of three mornings a week, it’s been a summer of big changes at Dulwich Hamlet. Rose is optimistic that his new recruits are more than up to the challenge.

“I think the main thing for me is integration,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of new guys come into the club, good personalities and good people. They are good characters who are willing to work hard, willing to listen. It’s been a good group in terms of craic.”

“For me personally as a manager, working three mornings has been really good,” Rose continued. “I think the focus is more on our job, rather than it being secondary. I think that’s been refreshing for me and the coaching staff.”

Reflecting on pre-season as a whole, Rose was largely pleased with how it had gone. “In terms of the games, we’ve had some mixed results but I think everyone knows pre-season isn’t just about results,” he said. “It’s about fitness levels, it’s about people gaining an understanding of what we’re aiming to do. In that respect I’m happy with where we are.”

Dulwich played their final friendly of pre-season against Crystal Palace and although it finished 4-2 to Palace, the Hamlet manager was able to draw on the positives from the performance.

“I thought in the first half we were very good. We were exciting and got the ball forward effectively. The front three worked well in tandem with each other and the support from the midfield was good,” Rose said.

“At times we were hard to play against, you could see their team was struggling to play against us in the first half. We were very aggressive in our play but technically sound as well. We scored two good goals.”

The club have also announced some new signings this week, with defenders Yannis Ambroisine and Aaron Barnes joining after successful trial periods. Rose outlined what the two players can offer at Dulwich.

“Ambroisine is a player who was at Welling last year, he started the season for them and they started really well,” he said of the French centre back. “He was available in pre-season, a week or two in. We invited him in and he was happy to come, which is great.”

“He’s shown a good attitude, he’s a very humble man but he works really hard. He’s willing to listen and learn but also very aggressive in his play and we think he’s a good addition for us.”

Right back Barnes is another player who Rose has tracked for a while. “Barnes has obviously been a pro,” he said. “I’ve watched him as a young man at Charlton and then he went to Colchester and was in and around the squad.”

“If you’re at a pro club and not playing in the first team but done with Under 23s, you’re sort of in no man’s land,” Rose added. “He’s made the decision - which is a brave one but I think the right one - to come out and try and play football and be competitive.”

Dulwich are in action at Tonbridge Angels this Saturday at 3pm.

We play our first home game at Champion Hill against Wealdstone on Tuesday. Tickets are available to buy here.

Season tickets are also still available to purchase.

Buy Season Tickets HERE

Full details can be found here.

Photo: Jules Purnell