Welcome to Champion Hill and thank you for joining us for the start of our 100th FA Cup campaign. Last season’s FA Vase winners Whitstable Town are the side that stand in the way of us progressing beyond the First Qualifying Round for the first time since we returned to the Isthmian League back in 2023.

Since we've been back at Step 3, the last two seasons have seen us draw at home, before replay defeats away against opposition from leagues below. So we know only too well that there is no room for complacency, especially against a side with a recent Wembley triumph fresh in the memory and 16 goals in their two FA Cup ties this season.

The games are coming thick and fast and we are still waiting on a few players to regain match fitness, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see our unbeaten start come to an end in extremely tough conditions at Whitehawk last Monday.

We knew it wouldn’t be a pitch on which we would be able to play the way we prefer, but even I was shocked at just how dangerous it was with many of the Whitehawk team succumbing to non-contact injuries during the match – some of them on multiple occasions.

We can only wish them all a speedy recovery and thank our lucky stars that we escaped with only a cut to Danny Mills’ head. That trip to East Brighton came after a resilient victory at home to Canvey Island just 48 hours earlier. This was the sort of match we have become almost used to losing recently – often to a sucker punch after failing to break down oppoents set up in a low block.

It was therefore extremely positive to see our new look team remain patient and find a way through to earn a fourth straight win. Being unable to find a way to overcome such stubborn defensively-minded opponents was another negative trait we set out to fix as part of our offseason reset.

It was good to see an early season performance offer such promise. Today we can take a breather from the Isthmian League and concentrate on the first of the cups. Hopefully that’s another negative trait we can tick off. It’s understandable why Dulwich fans believe that they have a passion for the knock-out competitions that has not been shared by Hamlet's recent managers. They are right to want and expect more.

In Manager Mark Dacey we have someone who led Rayners Lane to a Middlesex Senior Cup triumph last season, whilst First Team Coach Junior James was part of AFC Whyteleafe's run to that Wembley FA Vase final against Whitstable Town.

Everything points to an exciting afternoon of football and I’d like to thank you all for your support, as I know it’s tough when we are at home, week in, week out, during the early stages of the season...