We speak with Dulwich Hamlet assistant manager Junior Kadi ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup clash against Bognor Regis

While league results have been disappointing recently, Junior Kadi believes that this Saturday’s FA Cup game against Bognor Regis Town is the perfect opportunity for Dulwich Hamlet to bounce back.

“It's the best club competition in the world, isn't it. That feeling of the FA Cup,” Kadi says, staring out onto the carpet-like green pitch at Champion Hill. “For our level you dream of the First Round - that's our Cup Final. Some people have done it, even at our level, so it's great.”

Dulwich Hamlet haven’t reached the First Round of the competition since 1998, when we played Southport at home. Over 20 years on, recreating that feat is something Kadi would love to achieve again.

“I think it would be amazing. Obviously it's just amazing being back home. It's our first season. It started really well, the last few games haven't been where it should've been at - but there's factors to that, which we know,” he says.

“It would just be amazing and it's part of the fairytale, a part of the story. It would be great to have a professional club come here - but listen, we've got to deal with Bognor first!”

Bognor Regis are familiar opposition for Dulwich and Kadi is looking forward to renewing a rivalry with a club that he and the management team know all too well. “Jamie Howell was there before us - we've had great battles with Jamie. We seemed to come up through the leagues together, I know they've gone down into the Bostik Prem.”

“We know Bognor, they've got a philosophy at their football club - so you look at the league table, you look at their form and they might not be doing that great but our form isn't great either. It's a cup game isn't it, it's a one-off. You've got nothing to lose. They try and play football.”

As Kadi mentions, being back at Champion Hill is very special for him and has had a massive impact on how he prepares the side for match days. “It's brilliant. You get in here at half 7, with the rest of the management team. The sessions are set up. It's just fantastic, it's what you wanna do.”

However, he believes that patience is required before we see the full rewards for the new training routine. “Now I think that what you're seeing, you're gonna see the pain before the joy, because not a lot of the lads playing here were full time last year. That takes time for your body.”

“We've picked injuries and they're injuries that maybe if we were training once a week, on a five-aside court in Bromley, you wouldn't pick up but because this is the direction the club want to go, we're gonna have to crawl before we can walk and you can see that.”

“We can see now, even in just the last couple of weeks, we can see players' fitness, players' strength improving and that will kick in October, November time - I'm positive. That extra day, that extra bit of work they're doing. As I say, the workload on them now is not what they're used to. As their bodies acclimatize and get used to it, I believe we'll see the benefit.”

The side have certainly not been short of goals and Kadi praised the club’s new striker Danny Mills, who has already scored six times this season. “First of all, he's such a good person. He's a really, really good person,” he says. “Millsy will work hard, he will put a shift in and he's getting his just rewards. We know what Danny's capable of. He's a leader in the group. We're happy with him.”

Kadi and Gavin Rose recently marked their 10th Anniversary at Dulwich Hamlet and the assistant manager took a moment to reflect on just how much has changed in the past decade.

“It's funny,” he smiles. “You just mentioned the training facilities we've got there. I remember when we used to go to Elmers End, Beckenham Goals, things like that. Gav and I would have all the balls in our car. Our families couldn't even sit in our cars because we had all the Dulwich Hamlet equipment in there. There's time where we struggled, where we had to personally pay for training for months on end.”

“Sometimes I sit back and just look at it all and just think, 'Wow, we've come that far'. But when you're in it everyday, you sometimes don't see how quick you're progressing but there's so much work that gets done behind the scenes. Everyone's pushing in the right direction but like I say, because you're in it everyday, you sometimes don't see it. But it's massive, massive strides.”

With a big Cup game approaching this weekend, Kadi also has a message for the Dulwich fanbase to come and support the team on Saturday.

“Keep coming out. Keep supporting the boys, they appreciate it. We've got the best fans,” he says. “It's an unbelievable place to watch football, it's unbelievable place to be.”

Tickets for this Saturday’s game against Bognor Regis Town at 3pm are available to purchase here.

Photo: Ollie Jarman