Right set of results could gift Guernsey title two weeks early

GUERNSEY could be crowned Hampshire League One champions this weekend if results go their way. Should the Sarnians win at Farnborough and Trojans drop points away to Sandown and Shanklin, the green-and-whites will have claimed top spot and with it automatic promotion to London South West Division Four.

But captain Carl Johnson expects the title to go down to the final round of matches in a fortnight's time.

'I am certainly not holding my breath,' he said. 'Although the last thing I would want at this stage of the season is a trip to Sandown and Shanklin in the Isle of Wight.'

But Johnson is under no illusions of the task ahead of his side tomorrow.

Farnborough have improved steadily throughout the season and the Guernsey skipper was impressed with their potential when they suffered a 20-5 defeat at Foote's Lane earlier in the campaign.

'They came down the year before last from London Four and expected to go straight back up. They came pretty close but just missed out and a lot of their players left,' Johnson said.

'The first time we played them this season they had quite a young team. They are a good team, not really weak in any area, just a new team so they are building up experience. We were just a bit hard for them early on in the season.

'But with them at home, we cannot be sure what team they will put out. It has happened to us before towards the end of a season when we have gone away and played a very different side to the one that visited us and got turned over.

'The opportunity to knock the number one team off the top is also quite an incentive for them,' he added.

Guernsey had only light training sessions last week as they recovered from their exertions in the Hampshire Worthington's Bowl final but they were back to full-contact this week as the run-up to the Siam Cup gathers momentum.

The Sarnians will have influential fly-half Stuart Lloyd-Jones back in the fold tomorrow after he missed the Tottonians match due to the birth of his daughter.