Pre-season finale in the press

Here's the round up in our local papers, prior to the opening game with Canvey Island at Champion Hill tomorrow

Yesterday the 'Southwark News' had Gavin talking about his new-look squad:

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose hopes experienced faces he has brought in this pre-season will be the final piece of the jigsaw that will secure his side promotion from the Ryman Premier League.
This will be the Pink and blues third year on the third rung of the non-league ladder under Rose, and the Dulwich gaffer is hoping this time they will gain promotion after two near misses in previous seasons.
Rose told the News: "We have come close in the last couple of seasons to getting promotion and if you look at teams like Wealdstone and Maidstone, who have gone up, they have maybe had players with experience that we didn't have. We have our template in bringing young players through and we will continue to do that but we felt we also wanted experience in the squad and that is what we have been looking for."
This pre-season nine players have left Champion Hill, whilst seven have joined up with Hamlet, Rose stated he hopes to add another name, most probably a winger, to his new recruits.
The Pink and Blue boss said: "The players we have brought in are largely people we know, or players we have worked with before, and that enabled us to act quickly to get them in which is what we have wanted to do. Because the players know us and what we want from them they can hit the ground running which is helpful for us. In some cases we have got in the players who have come down a level and that is great as can we attract players like that."
Dulwich rounded off their pre-season preparations last Saturday with a win against hayes & Yeading, leaving the Hamlet boss to state his satisfaction with preparations so far.
Rose said: "I'm really happy where we are in term of fitness and I think as the pre-season went on our performances gradually got better. It takes time to get to the level of performance you want but I think that the good level we have reached will be improved upon."
Fraser Shaw, who has joined Leyton Orient in the last week, has become the eighth player to sign professional terms directly from Dulwich Hamlet since Rose started his managerial tenure at Champion Hill.

And today, in the 'South London Press', there was more talk of the changes:

Dulwich Hamlet boss Gavin Rose boosted his side with vast experience this week ahead of tomorrow's Ryman League Premier Division curtain-raiser by bringing in two ex-pros.
Forward Calum Willock, 33, has signed after leaving Lewes, and he was followed swiftly into Champion Hill by former Charlton defender Osei Sankofa, 30.
Willock's professional career saw him make appearances for Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Brentford, Peterborough United and Port Vale in the Football League. He scored twice in his second-half cameo in the 5-0 friendly win over Beckenham Town last week.
Sankofa has also turned out for Bristol City, Brentford and Southend United.
"Kevin James (Dulwich coach) has known Calum for a long time," Rose said. "Charlie Penney has been injured all pre-season so if Jacob Erskine went down we'd have no-one else so we needed another attacker. There is more competition and less pressure as we can rotate the squad on Saturdays and tuesdays to keep everyone very fresh. Like Jacob Erskine, Calum is a big target-man who can bring people into the game but he can also score goals. If Jacob gets injure then we'd be struggling. The average age of the squad has gone up a lot this summer but the club needed more experience. It's a good mix with the talented lads coming through from the academy. We've never really had a proper number nine in the last two years because of Harry Ottaway's injury. We addressed that in the summer, which is really pleasing. We didn't convert enough chances last season and bringing in depth in that area could early us an extra 15 or 20 points."
Apart from Albert Jarrett's suspension carried over from last season, Rose has a clean bill of health in his squad for the visit of Canvey.
"We basically want to get promoted," he said. "Several other teams would say something similar, but having reached the play-offs last year and improving the squad, we want to do better. I think this will be a more competitive season than ever but we are looking forward to the challenge."