The dynamic midfielder talks back-to-back wins and looks ahead to games against two of his former clubs…

We may only be two games in to a long league season, but new signing Kieran Monlouis is already showing his versatility in midfield as he settles into life at Dulwich Hamlet.

The Lewisham-born midfielder has helped his new club to back-to-back wins against Tonbridge Angels and Wealdstone, starting in both games for Dulwich. Faced with a combination of injuries and suspensions, manager Gavin Rose has been utilising the full extent of Monlouis’ capabilities in midfield.

“In pre-season, early on, I felt like I was more of an advanced midfielder, looking to receive the ball high up the pitch on the half turn,” he says.

“But I feel like especially on Tuesday I had to switch up the role a bit, become more defensive. I’m happy to do both roles. Midfielders should be able to do the attacking side and defensive side, so I feel like I’ve adapted well.”

Both of Dulwich’s performances so far this season have been notable for their resilience and Monlouis is not afraid to do the dirty work when required, especially given that the side were without captain David Ijaha for Tuesday’s game against Wealdstone.

“We’ve had a good start to the season, two good wins, especially the one against Wealdstone as I feel they’ll be right up there come the end of the season,” he says. “I felt like we showed spirit and that will lift us throughout the season I’m sure.”

“I felt like we had a good fight to us, we had a good grit in the team,” he says. “The difference between Saturday [and Tuesday] is that we had David Ijaha in there, who everyone knows as a hardman and likes to get about. I felt like we did do that part of the game well and I feel like in any team, hard work is the number one priority and if you get that right then everything else will follow.”

Having come through the Stoke City and Charlton Athletic academies and then going on to play some non-league football in England, Monlouis took an unusual step of moving to Scotland last year, where he signed for Hamilton Academicals. While first team opportunities were ultimately limited there, his experiences north of the border helped to shape him as a player.

“Scotland was different. It wasn’t what I expected,” he says. “A lot of people in England think that it’s not the best quality-wise, but having gone up there myself I can actually say that it’s a good standard. It’s very physical, the game’s very fast and it does take you by surprise.”

“I’ve had a bit of both, obviously non-league and then going up to North, I did feel like it geared me up to be ready for anything that came my way. And I felt like I was ready at the time, it didn’t work out, but I feel like now I’ve got the right tools. I’ve played many games already in non-league from my time at St Albans and so I know what it takes to do well in the league.”

In terms of joining Dulwich, the new training structure of three mornings a week was a big draw for Monlouis in signing this summer and he feels the homely atmosphere around the club is helping everyone to gel quickly, on and off the pitch.

“I feel like the crowd are gonna get behind us and I think that they can see already early on that we’ve got a good squad this year - a lot of exciting players.”

“I think we’ve got the right team to go and have a good season, especially the structure away from the football pitch as well. Food is put on for us, the physios are on point always. I feel like we will do well this year.”

As it is often said, there are no easy games at this level and Monlouis is expecting two more difficult contests as Dulwich prepare to face two of his former clubs, St Albans City on Saturday and Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday night.

On St Albans he says, “I feel like they’ve changed a lot of the players since I was there but I’ve been told from friends who’ve played them this year that they like to play out from the back so they’ll be a passing team. They like a lot of rotation in the middle, so that’s one thing that I’ll need to be clued up on.”

As for Hemel, “I know that they’ve got some pacey wide players so I know that we’ll need to be switched on for that,” he says.

Preparation is key and for Monlouis, Gavin Rose has immediately impressed as a manager with a meticulous eye for detail.

“I’ve come into an environment where the manager’s working with me differently to how other managers have worked with me previously,” he says.

“It’s good to get the coaching side of things from Gavin and he’s already given me a few pointers on how I can improve my game, some things that he’s highlighted are that I’m good higher up the pitch but I may need to work on a couple of things defensively, like when I receive it in our own half.”

Kieran Monlouis and the boys are in action this Saturday August 10th at 3pm against St Albans City.

Tickets are available to buy here.

Photo: Jules Purnell