Guernsey Press

Students provide perfect warm-up for trip to Crawley

THE timing of the big freeze in England looks to have been to Guernsey’s benefit two times over.

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Cameron Rivers-Moore, far right, played for the Nomads against Guernsey last year. Next week he will be in the Island men’s squad for that fixture having also been called up for the EH Tier Two Championship tie at Crawley next month. (Picture by Martin Gray, 31595300)

While the Island men’s squad will be boosted by the availability of the Stokes brothers, Ant and Matt, for the rearranged EH Tier Two Championship second-round tie at Crawley on 7 January, Andy Good’s side will also be all the better prepared for having faced the Students XI in the third annual Nomads matches next Tuesday.

Although played under the guise of a friendly, the festive matches that were derived during the first year of Covid have proved to be both highly-competitive and high quality, particularly in the men’s clashes with Guernsey emerging victorious in the first, before the Students gained their revenge last year with a last-gasp 5-4 win in a thriller.

‘I don’t know the exact make-up of their team, but it will be a good side and after our loss last year, the series is 1-1 at the moment and it shows the quality of hockey player that we have both on and off the island,’ said Good.

‘It will be a good game for sure and a great warm-up for the Crawley game in January.’

While a whole host of familiar names are in the ‘long’ squad for both fixtures, Good has named a couple of fresh faces too.

‘We have a new cap in Sean Donaldson. He is from South Africa, he has come to work in the island, he has played state hockey over there and played a couple of games over here for Indies and he adds a bit of experience and quality to our already impressive forward line,’ said Good, who has also included one of his rising Elizabeth College stars in Cameron Rivers-Moore.

‘Cam has been playing for EC Firsts since he was in Year 10, he has come on really well and he now looks like an adult because he has grown physically. He is quick with good skills and he needs to be playing at a higher level now.’

Guernsey would love to head to Crawley on the back of a confidence-building win next week, although the result is more important in the national knockout and they have the added incentive of a home tie in the third round should they progress.

‘We have played Crawley before in HA competition a few years ago [Guernsey winning a first-round tie in the EH Trophy 5-0 in October 2015]. They are a South East Men’s Division One West side and play in the same league as the likes of Oxted Seconds and East Grinstead Seconds, which means they are competing against good teams regularly, so they are going to be a good team themselves and it’s going to be a test for us.

‘But it is not a case of being wary going there.

‘We are a strong side ourselves, we have a good young side and we fancy our chances of progressing,’ said Good.

  • The Nomads games at Footes Lane on Tuesday 27 December see the Guernsey men’s and women’s squads take on teams made up of island students and recent graduates. The women’s game starts at 11am and the men’s at 12.30pm.

Guernsey Men’s long squad to play Nomads and Crawley

Tom Judd, Dan Brown, Zak Damarell, Alex Bushell, Andy Whalley, Tim Ravenscroft, Matt Stokes, Sam Dawes, Steve Eulenkamp, Carl Pugh, Tom Cashin, Cameron Rivers-Moore, Adam De La Mare, Sean Donaldson, Josh Kendal, Ant Stokes, Jake Le Marchant, Adie Peacegood, Jonny Clark, Tom Still, Sam Watson.