LISTEN: Rovers’ strength in depth reflective of years of work

That is the view of their assistant first-team coach and club stalwart Barry Moroney, who is this week’s guest on the Guernsey Press Football Podcast, with the blue-and-whites sitting top of the FNB Priaulx League and having progressed in the Guernsey FA Cup at the weekend at the expense of the club’s veterans’ side.

• Listen to a full interview with Rovers' Barry Moroney on this week's Guernsey Press Football Podcast

‘It’s very early in the season, you can only really start to get excited about things maybe when there’s two or three or four games left rather than this early, but at this stage it looks good and the group are keen,’ said Moroney.

‘I think for their development we need to be challenging for trophies this season.

‘Saints set a fantastic standard for the last couple of seasons so it’s up to the rest of us to try and follow suit.’

It was in their 3-0 win over St Martin’s at Blanche Pierre Lane a week ago that Rovers really demonstrated the quality that head coach Kevin Gillease has to call upon, but Moroney emphasised that a lot of time and effort has gone into getting them to that position.

‘The squad at the minute is very strong and it’s reflective of what’s gone on over the last number of years at the club and there were still two or three guys not available as well [last Tuesday],’ he said.

‘Picking a squad is difficult at the minute, but picking a team is very, very hard and we are probably fortunate to be in a position at the moment where we can pick a team for a certain game if we want to play a certain way against the likes of Saints. It might be one XI and you might tweak it differently for the next opposition.

‘So, yeah, a very good position to be in and the players have to buy into that as well and I think so far they have, which is good because Kev has been fantastic at giving guys opportunities and using the different competitions to give players game-time who maybe have been slightly on the fringes.’

Following on from that win over Saints, the Rovers first team had a less taxing workout against their Vets on Saturday when Martin Savident scored a hat-trick and Fin Whitmore, Dale Webb, Aidan McKay and James Grundy were also among the scorers in a 9-0 win.

‘We’ve had a big Rovers v Rovers weekend ... it was good fun, good to be a part of,’ said Moroney, aluding to the fact that the Rovers third team took on their under-18s the following afternoon in the Railway Shield.

‘In the FA Cup game on Saturday the Vets were missing a couple of players, which would have made them a little bit more competitive, but I think they all enjoyed it and one of the better performances came from the Vets centre-back Sam Le Tissier, who put in an absolutely fantastic performance to keep the scoreline down.

‘They lost a goalie at half-time in the game as well, so it was a tough afternoon for the Vets, but they enjoyed it.’