LISTEN: Green Lionesses growing in numbers and confidence
Guernsey FC Women have got off to a flying start in their first league campaign.
They are now in their second season and manager Anna Gauvain said that the squad has grown and improved in the past year.
‘The change in the girls has been massive, not just the team stuff, but all the individual points when they get to watch their footage back,’ she said.
‘They’re really learning on different aspects of the game and when you watch yourself back, you actually realise and can take coaching points on board.
‘So having these fixtures and the footage has been massive for them and they’re just growing so much after the Island Games, and then to win the Muratti. The improvement is their confidence has just grown so much, which is what we wanted, ready for hopefully the UK next season.’
Hear the full interview with GFC Women coach Anna Gauvain on this week’s Guernsey Press Football Podcast
The Green Lionesses have won all four of their games so far in the league and headed into their current three-week break off the back of a weekend that saw them score 20 goals in two games.
‘Sunday’s afternoon game against Rozel I thought the girls were really good. They put in a performance and got the result they deserved,’ said Gauvain of that 8-2 success over a previously unbeaten side.
‘It has been really good to have some competitive games, while we’ve been successful we’ve managed to challenge the girls with different things in training and they’ve been able to put them into practice in the games, so it’s been a great experience so far.
‘We thought we would be competitive and we always want to go out and and win, but the Jersey teams are physical.’
They have one game left this side of Christmas, against St Peter on Sunday 15 December.
Gauvain said that the standard of the Jersey club sides has given Guernsey FC Women the chance to rotate the squad and give players game time.
‘Obviously, we’re playing with the best we’ve got in Guernsey. While we’re rotating players around, there is still a core group and so when you’re going up against the Jersey club sides it’s a little bit of a different standard for them, but that has allowed us to practice things and rotate players where we can,’ she said.
This season has seen a number of new names on the team sheets for the Green Lionesses and the manager believes that introducing fresh faces into the squad will be something that continues throughout the season.
‘We have a group session where on average we’ve got about 25 players. I think if everyone came at once, we would be up to 30 or more,’ said Gauvain.
‘So there’s players always waiting to come in and there were a few disappointed not to travel on Sunday, but hopefully they’ll get their chance in the new year when we’ve got some more fixtures.
‘I guess it’s more now about managing the players expectations for game time and, as we said, introducing other players into the squad.
‘The plan for next season is to be in a UK league and there we can’t just rely on 16, 17 or 18 players to make up the squad, so this season is all about building and introducing new players. Hopefully you’ll see a few more names on the team sheets and those girls that are desperate to have a chance will hopefully get that opportunity to play at some point.’
After they finish their league campaign Guernsey’s women can look forward to the Muratti, but they will no longer have the chance to play at an Island Games after the GFA pulled both teams out of those tournaments.
Gauvain revealed that there had been a variety of emotions from the girls following this news.
‘I think a bit of a mixed response.
‘Obviously, Orkney, perhaps, with the cost and everything involved put a few players off, but we were ready to go with the squad, but unfortunately that decision is out of our hands.
‘Yes, it’s disappointing that those new players don’t get the experience straight away of the Island Games, especially coming off the back of the home Games, and we really wanted to test ourselves, because while there were some really good performances in the Island Games they weren’t necessarily successful with our results, so we were looking to improve on that.
‘But with what we’ve got with GFC and other things that we might be able to do over the summer for the girls, I’m hoping that they’ll be satisfied with their football at the moment.’
She added that while there were no plans in place yet, they were focused on trying to find the right opposition for them to play.
‘The news only came out last week so we’re busy talking to different people about competitions, perhaps pre-season, maybe something in the UK or maybe in France.
‘It’s just really looking around and finding the right opposition and the competition’s got to be right for us as well. So a lot of organising to come off the back of last week’s news.’
