The Guernsey men’s first XI won 1-0 at Ashford, their foils in last season’s Plate quarter-finals, despite being in a transitional stage where no fewer than seven players were on debut.
Ahead of taking on the second round of the Tier Two Trophy in December, Eulenkamp praised his side’s mindset in this pleasing start.
‘It was great to be able to close out a game 1-0,’ he said of a match where James Ball scored the winner.
‘We have worked hard on this in training and it has been an area that previous Guernsey teams have needed to work on.
‘We had lots of new players come into the side today and to see their mentality when the going got tough was very pleasing.
‘The group has identified where we need to get better and now we have eight weeks to put that right before our next match.’
Eulenkamp’s step into the head coaching role comes alongside other shifts in personnel for men's hockey for this season.
Having completed the two-year Great Britain Advanced Coach Programme in August, he took over officially from Ed Benfield as men’s first-team head coach the following month.
Much of what Eulenkamp does this season will be aimed at success over the longer term.
‘This season has started with a backdrop of some important players from previous years either retiring or leaving the island,’ he said.
‘We also have a new leadership structure in place, so this year is going to be very much about beginning to create the conditions for long-term success.
‘Part of that is ensuring that we have a strong culture of shared values and also beginning to develop a more clear identity around our style of play.’
That does not mean he does not have ambitions for the coming season.
His main targets include not only the EH Championships but repeated success at the inter-insulars, where Guernsey’s firsts, seconds and thirds were all victorious back in March.
‘We’d obviously like to do well in the England Hockey Championships and making it through to Trophy round two is a great start.
‘This ultimately allows us to benchmark ourselves against good-quality opposition.
‘We also want to do well against Jersey again, having won all three men’s games last year – our focus leading into that will, of course, be to at least retain the first team trophy and aim for another clean sweep for the men’s section.’
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