Objective to be top of the tree at Christmas
THE pressure is on Wimbledon now that Raiders have taken over top spot in London & South-East Premier, according to Jordan Reynolds.
Guernsey moved into pole position last weekend thanks to their bonus-point 45-5 victory over Guildford, while Wimbledon saw their game at Tunbridge Wells postponed.
Although coach Reynolds emphasised that Raiders cannot afford to take Brighton for granted in their final game of 2019 this coming Saturday, he admitted that Christmas lunch will taste all the better if his side are top of the tree heading into the new year.
‘We have generally performed well over the first half of the season – we did not perform well at Rochford [their only defeat] – and now this puts the pressure on Wimbledon,’ he said.
‘No one wants to be playing on one of the reserve weekends during the Six Nations Championship because you might be missing a few players, but they are going to have to be making up that ground on one of those weekends and they will not get that added rest too.
‘Now we’ve gone and got the bonus-point win, they have to do the same [when they play at game in hand].’
Reynolds found out on Saturday morning that Wimbledon’s game would not be going ahead.
‘I told the guys beforehand to use that as a little added motivation against Guildford,’ he said.
‘We spoke before the game and said there’s an opportunity here for us to sneak into first spot, but we had to get a bonus point and win well.
‘It’s not that long ago we were sitting third, six points off Wimbledon and three off Rochford, and it looked like it was going to be a long slog to overhaul them.
‘We have to perform against Brighton, but now we can go into Christmas and the new year on top so it gives us a big objective this week.’
More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.
