Following his two months on loan at the club, Charlton's Ashley Maynard-Brewer reflects on his time at Dulwich

With both Charlie Grainger and Preston Edwards unavailable for the start of the season, the decision to bring Ashley Maynard-Brewer in on loan has proven to be beneficial for both the club and the young goalkeeper.

“I've found it really good. I think from the first day, everyone was very welcoming. Gav spoke to me early on and told me what he wanted from me and the way we wanted to play,” he says.

“We've been very resilient in the past few games. It was obviously good to get a few wins on the board early on. I hope to see that continue.”

Maynard-Brewer had two loan spells last year, at Chelmsford City and Hampton & Richmond Borough, and coming to Dulwich was a chance to further build on that experience. “I've felt like I've learnt a lot. I've found playing Conference South, it's not just playing the part, it's looking the part and commanding your box, being loud and dictating to your back four a lot of the time,” he continues. “So that's one thing I'm definitely going to take away. It was obviously good to make a few saves and help the team out.”

“The first matchday I was quite surprised with how lively it was. It's good to have a lot of people watching at this level. Obviously I've spent a few years playing [Charlton] Under 23s but it was just competitive, it was just non-stop.

“A lot of the time in 23s it's stop-start and it can get a bit slow but I guess winning is just emphasised a lot more in the Conference and you see that during the play, it's just completely different but I've found it's helped my character a lot more. Standing tall and being big in the important times.”

The 20-year-old has also enjoyed learning alongside Edwards and Grainger. “It's been good fun training with them actually. We all get along quite well and during the training we get a lot of productive work done, so it's been good.”

“Preston's played loads here and been a standout keeper for the past few years, and Charlie's done big things at Leyton Orient so it's a good bunch, especially as we're a similar age. I've enjoyed their company and it's been exciting.”

With Australia’s rich heritage of goalkeepers, Maynard-Brewer is hopeful he can go on to join that cohort and play at full International level. “I've seen a lot of keepers, like Matt Ryan for example who was playing in the A-League and he's propelled himself to being one of the Premier League's top keepers, so I know things can happen in a short space of time. I just want to play as high as possible.”

“There's Brad Jones, obviously [Mark] Schwarzer's a big one, Matty Ryan, Bozza [Mark Bosnich]. You're seeing lots of Aussie keepers doing well, even a few young ones who have been over. Hopefully it says something about the mentality of Aussie keepers and Aussie players. I'm very keen to succeed here and do well.”

Maynard-Brewer has already been called up to Australia’s youth squad and is eager to continue his journey. “Two years ago I went away with the Aussie Under 23s to a camp in Spain and then went away with my own age group to Doha, with the Under 19s for a little pre-tournament before the qualifiers. Unfortunately because of my English birth, my clearance got blocked for the big tournament and it's still getting sorted out now but it was really good experience.”

Overall, the young goalkeeper is thankful for his time at Champion Hill and the busy schedule here has helped his development no end. “It's been a bit draining getting used to playing so many games in such a short period of time, but it's good for my character and it's good for me to learn.”

“It's been a really good start to the season. It was five games in two or three weeks, seven games in a month. It's good for me and good for the team to get a few results.”