“Sometimes you do think: ‘Bloody hell, that could still be my reality,’” says Jamal Lowe, nursing an envelope with a stash of Wembley tickets for friends and family. When Portsmouth take on Sunderland in the Checkatrade Trophy final this Sunday in front of a record crowd of more than 80,000, it will be almost three years since Lowe helped Hampton & Richmond Borough thrash Brentwood Town 5-1 in the seventh tier, in front of 727 people.

After being released by Barnet aged 20, occasions such as this final were a pipedream. “I’m just thankful I have managed to progress my career back into the league. All of my mates still play in the Conference South. They will be telling me how they’re going to this game on a Tuesday night and they have to make their own way there, a two-hour drive after finishing work at 5pm. That is very real to them, and it was very real to me. It is a completely different world.”

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On a bright day at Portsmouth’s training base, Lowe laughs as he tells of how Hemel Hempstead Town slashed his £250-a-week wage because he was on a barren run. “I had not scored for a couple of games so they said: ‘We’re going to have to cut you down.’ That was part of the life, just how it was.” He does not talk disparagingly about his journey but with gratitude and great humility, because he remembers the days when non-league teams turned their noses up at him, and the night he travelled to Gosport with Hemel only to find out they would rather name five substitutes than include him on the bench.

“That was the moment I thought I might just finish with football. I thought: ‘I don’t need to be feeling like this about a football match’ and there were times I thought: ‘Is this worth it, shall I just pack this in? Should I do something else?’ But I made it back. That’s what’s important. Everyone comes through hard times and only the strongest stay around. I’m thankful I didn’t give up.”

In December Danny Rose said running out at Wembley was no longer an honour, having grown tired of playing there with Tottenham. Try telling that to Lowe, who scored for England C in Estonia three years ago, or anyone who snaked round Fratton Park in the queue to secure their seat. The significance of playing under the iconic arch is not lost on the 24-year-old, who often went to Wembley market on weekends.

Lowe grew up in the stadium’s shadow, a short overground ride away in Harrow, where his parents still live. As a boy, the ground always loomed large on the horizon, yet the idea of playing there was intangible. “It always felt miles away. You go past it on the train and you never think you are going to play there. I have never been – not watched a game, not been to a concert there or anything – so for my first time to go there and play will be amazing.”

As a teenager at Barnet he played under Edgar Davids after graduating through the club’s college programme, for which he paid £200 per term. As for Davids, he smiles. “He was a world superstar at a small club. He was a player-manager and I guess it was kind of hard to find that balance. He definitely still had some technique – you are not going to lose that – but it was just a crazy time.” Six loans and 13 first-team appearances later and Lowe, as he puts it, found himself “jumping from club to club to club”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jamal Lowe celebrates with teammates after scoring one of 13 goals this season. Photograph: Adam Rivers/ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock

“I knew I was better than what I was portraying, better than my performances and the clubs I was being turned away from. I needed to show my ability and end product. That was the major thing that changed. I had gone from a player that was maybe considered a five-a-side player, good in training, got all the tricks and that, but someone that never scores or sets up goals, to making sure that nobody could say that.”

Lowe has impressed since joining Portsmouth in January 2017 and is top scorer this season, with 13 goals in all competitions from the flank. The striker Nicke Kabamba joined from Hampton that same month but is now on loan at Hartlepool from Havant and Waterlooville. Lowe, who rejected Eastleigh and Stevenage before arriving on the south coast, can still picture the “bright blue Portsmouth tracksuits” parked in the front row at Hampton’s modest ground. “I said to my mate Kabamba: ‘We better have a good game today then.’ We both scored and it all went from there.”

Kabamba quit his job as a car salesman, Lowe his career as a primary school PE teacher in south-west London. Wednesdays started with a 7.30am breakfast club and finished on the grass, coaching Metropolitan Police FC Under-15s until 8.30pm. “I had to have Thursdays off,” he says, chuckling. “I needed a job to stay afloat. I had to do it to get by. I had to pay bills; I couldn’t sit at home and rely on football money because it was not enough.”

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Portsmouth and Sunderland have their eyes on automatic promotion to the Championship but Lowe does not accept this is a cup game neither team truly want. “Who does not want to play at Wembley? You either sack it off to get out of the competition or you do it properly like we did. It is going to be a privilege.”

Regardless of the result, Sunday will be a special moment for Lowe and his army of supporters, including his 17-month-old daughter, Bonnie, and fiancee, Holly, who is expecting a baby boy. “The due date is 10 April, which is pretty close to the game, so maybe celebrating a goal could bring the labour on,” Lowe says, laughing.

Talking points

• One of Neale Marmon’s first decisions as caretaker manager at Yeovil was to make first-team training sessions available to fans. The 57-year-old spent the majority of his playing career in Germany before joining Colchester in 1990. Darren Way was sacked after 10 defeats in 12 matches left Yeovil 22nd in League Two. Chris Powell has since become the 33rd managerial casualty in the Football League this season after Southend decided to act following an 11-match winless run.

• James Coppinger rolled back the years to help Doncaster back into the League One play-off places. The 38-year-old, who has made more than 600 appearances for the club, scored twice as Grant McCann’s side breezed to a 4-1 win over Bristol Rovers on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Bristol City have unveiled their new badge, on which the robin synonymous with the club returns.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bristol City’s new crest, on which the robin returns. Photograph: Rogan/JMP/Rex/Shutterstock

• Birmingham striker Che Adams, Norwich forward Teemu Pukki and Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp have been nominated for the EFL’s Championship player of the season award. The young player of the season prize will be contested between Derby’s on-loan Liverpool midfielder Harry Wilson, Luton defender James Justin and Norwich right-back Max Aarons.