It’s been a busy season with both of you leading your respective teams to top place in the league. With the end of season within reach how are you feeling ?

ELLIE

The team have been feeling great and playing really well, and we’re obviously delighted with how our season has gone so far – both in terms of results but also some of the hockey we have produced. The league couldn’t be tighter, with our win away from home the only thing separating ourselves and Guildford, so we know the season is far from over yet and there’s a lot of hard work to come. That being said, I think we’re continuing to get better week on week, and the team are really stepping up to the challenge. We’re producing some fast and attacking hockey, and relishing every opportunity to play with each other, so I am excited and confident in our ability to keep our good form rolling through to the end of the season.

JOHN

Excited! We have put ourselves in a strong position going into the last few weeks of the season, and while that comes with additional pressure, we ultimately want to be in this position and playing in important matches.

How has your preparation been for the games this weekend?

ELLIE

Preparation has been great and as focussed as ever for us this week. We know Bishop’S Stortford have a good attacking record so will have some threats going forward, so we‘ve had good tactical discussions around how we’ll deal with that. But for the most part, we’re just focusing on what we do best and taking confidence from that into the weekend.

JOHN

We always try to approach every game with the same focus and intensity, regardless of who we are playing. Each opposition presents a different set of challenges, and we are expecting a tough game against Old Loughts.

Looking back over the season have you had any highlights?

ELLIE

Beating Guildford away from home has to be the biggest highlight for us so far. It was a complete team performance with everyone doing their job to a T. To produce a performance like that under the pressure of it being a potentially season-defining-game is a huge credit to the attitude of every single player in the squad, and it was such a great feeling to see the rewards of all the hard work we’d been putting in. Another highlight would have to be finding a way to win in a tough home game against Wayfarers. They’d held us to a draw twice last season, so to win 2-1 really showed the growth of the squad and epitomises the winning mindset we’ve all adopted this year.

JOHN

Gaining promotion from indoor div 2 was a highlight. Somewhere in the region of 19 players contributed across the three weekends of qualifying, so it was a real squad effort. There are still 5 games to go in the outdoor season so we are not taking anything for granted, but there have been some great performances to date, and I’ve particularly enjoyed the attacking brand of hockey that Kwan and Huw have got us playing.

Conversely what would you say has been the biggest challenge for you and the team?

ELLIE

The biggest challenge is undoubtedly the fact that we are going to be pushed for promotion right to the end of the season, as we’re currently only 3 points clear at the top. Winning this league may require us to win all 18 games, and so there is no margin for error. We speak in our squad about being relentless, and that really is the key for us – every week now is a cup final game with promotion on the line, so every minute at training and in games really matters. The challenge is, then, to never let our standards slip, but it’s a challenge that everyone in the squad has absolutely risen to. We should take massive confidence in the fact that we have overcome every single challenge we have been set so far this season – so we just need to keep doing what we’re doing!

JOHN

Unfortunately we have had a few injuries over the course of the season. Early on we lost Thad Rivett and Ian Gordon to long term injuries, and more recently Matt Ramshaw and Dan West. This can obviously be a bit disruptive, but it is great to see players stepping up and playing well, most recently Vivek Dongha who is having a brilliant season getting selected for England U18s and making his national league debut against Canterbury.

With a handful of important games still to play which ones are you most looking forward to?

ELLIE

In line with the general theme of our season… Guildford at home on the last day of the season (1st April) could not be bigger. Results dependent, that could be a winner-takes-all climax to the season. As much as the pressure will be high going into that game, we’ll take confidence from our cool, calm, and collected win away from home, and relish the opportunity to play in a game like that!

JOHN

Kwan and Huw are very good at keeping us focused on the next game and the next game only, so I haven’t looked any further ahead than this weekend. That said, I always enjoy the home games at Southgate, as we get fantastic support whatever the result.

Finally how are you feeling about playing in front of a (hopefully!) big crowd and how important is the crowd when you are playing, is it something that affects how you play?

ELLIE

We’re so excited! There’s a special feeling about the club at the moment, and it’s days like today that we really get to see and celebrate that. We’re so grateful to all the organisers of the event, and to every single person who’s come down to support us this season – it has been amazing and it really has been noticed and appreciated by the whole squad. It really isn’t very often that you get the opportunity to play in front of this many people, so it really is exciting! Having a crowd is so influential, and definitely gives us that extra push to produce fast paced and entertaining hockey. In our last home outing a packed crowd pushed us to score 4 goals in the last 15 minutes of the game to take a 6-0 win, so we absolutely thrive off playing in front of a full balcony. I can’t wait for the game, and thank you to all who have been involved in today and to those who have come down to enjoy it with us!

JOHN

I’m really looking forward to it. As a team I think we are very good at blocking out distractions and staying on task, but it will certainly be an interesting challenge to play in front of a crowd this big. Hopefully there will be more opportunities to do this again in future.