CI squad finds life tough

THE Channel Islands found the quality of opposition too high and the schedule of matches too draining but still returned from the County Championships with plenty of positives. All four games were lost in a tiring weekend's competition.

'We knew this was the toughest group we have ever played in. Bedfordshire were our realistic target for a win and they had beaten us 7-1 in our most recent encounter,' said coach Andy Graham.

First up for the Bank Julius Baer-sponsored squad were Kent

It was fast and furious, the players seeming to ignore the four-game schedule. The CI looked sharp and twice took the lead, but both times Kent replied almost immediately.

The opener came from a slick move that saw Stuart Ramskill slot home from the left, the second from a penalty corner scored by Simon Watling.

At half-time the sides were level, but Kent changed their tactics for the second half and pressed more.

It paid dividends and they pulled out a two-goal cushion. It was only after it reached 4-2 that the CI started to find gaps and could have pulled something out of the game in the last 10 minutes.

However, some fine defending by Kent, including a couple of superb saves by their keeper, kept the score 4-2.

The second game was the one that the coaching staff had identified as the 'must-win' prior to the tournament.

This is where the draw took its first real toll. With five teams in the group, this was Bedfordshire's first game. In a free-flowing clash, they took their chances early on, opening a 2-0 lead.

The CI dug deep and of three short corners, Simon Watling converted two, making it 2-2 at half time.

After the turnaround, the CI pushed forward and were caught on the break, which resulted in a third goal against them. Back the CI came and Watling slotted home two more penalty corners, to make it 4-3.

With 15 minutes left, the CI looked comfortable. However, the pace of the two games began to tell and Bedfordshire broke down the fine defending of Adie Peacegood, Watling, Kevin Doyle and Jamie Chambers, scoring two goals, the last in the dying seconds, to claim a hard-fought victory.

This left the team with a huge task on day two; a win was imperative and Sussex and Essex stood in their way.

Other results meant that the CI needed only one win to give them a chance to stay up.

Against a very polished Sussex side, they slipped 3-0 down early on.

The management team decided to rest some key players, which meant that they ran out 6-0 losers, although the result did not really reflect the run of play.

The Essex game was very even, with both sides challenging for every ball.

Ben Lanoe had picked up an injury in the previous game, so was unavailable.

Throughout the game, Peacegood stood out for the CI: his tackling was forceful and at times inspired.

Again the sides exchanged goals, with Watling getting his fifth of the tournament.

Just before half-time, Peacegood crashed a ball into the D for Andy Whalley to deflect into the net to give them a 2-1 lead at the break.

Unfortunately, the umpires had started to dish out cards for some tired tackling and this carried on into the second half.

First an Essex player went, followed a few minutes later by Rob Newton, who was still in the sin bin at half-time.

No sooner had Newton come back onto the pitch than Jamie Chambers was yellow-carded, and while he was still waiting to come back on, Matt Banahan was yellow-carded for flicking the ball away after a foul.

This stretched the CI side, but they clung on.

But the final nail in the coffin was when Watling had to come off injured. Unfortunately, the makeshift defence could not hold out and the CI side went 3-2 down to two quick goals.

The hard schedule then took its toll and Essex increased their lead to 5-2 by the end of the game.

'We didn't get many breaks in the games, and the draw was never going to help us,' said Graham.

'We have played far worse than we did in the A Division and won games comfortably, so the players shouldn't be down-hearted.

'We performed as well as we could have but were about 5% down on what the other sides were able to produce.

'We tried very hard to bridge this gap with hard work and endeavour with a few more breaks and a little less whistle from the umpires, at least two of the matches could have gone the other way.'

He also praised the two squad members making their debut at this level.

'For players such as Damian Wallen and Adam Kitching, it has been great exposure to what they can aspire to.

'Yes, both Guernsey and Jersey have very good players, but the pace and fitness at this level open their eyes to what top-level hockey is all about.'

Their UK opponents were sharper in front of goal, he added.

'Our forwards were used as extra midfielders for large chunks of the games, which is reflected in who scored the goals.

'The good thing about going down is that the players have an opportunity to look to come back up.

'I know that seems like stating the obvious, but the change between just trying to survive and aiming for a place in a final is totally different, so we are looking at this as a stepping stone to improvement.'