The parish side, who finished third – their highest ever position – last season, together with winning the Le Riche Cup, have all three of the title challengers to play in their remaining five games.
Grouville have proved a frustrating side to play against, in the main they pack their defence and rely on the counter-attack and although it’s a style that is sometimes unattractive to watch it has been hugely successful for manager Ian Horswell and his players.
Grouville begin their run-in on Saturday away to St Peter.
The Saints last season failed to score against Grouville as Horswell’s side took four points with a 1-0 victory and a 0-0 draw.
This season St Peter edged a 2-1 league victory at Le Boulivot in January, but Grouville did win a Jeremie Cup encounter 4-2 after extra time at Les Quennevais last September.
Horswell said: ‘We’re looking forward to all the games because we want to beat last year’s best ever points total of 26.
‘I have no preference who wins the title – it will be the team with the most points and they will deserve it over the season.
Each of the clubs in contention can be assured that we will be giving 100 per cent in each game.
‘Three teams vying for the championship is good for the league and had we not suffered injuries to key players, I believe we, too, could have been right up there this season.
‘Luc Le Mière and Russell Le Feuvre have missed 50 and 60 per cent of our games respectively and had they been around for all of them who knows what might have happened.
‘However, we’ve still managed to reach three cup semi-finals this season and we’ll continue to build as we look forward to next season.’ Midfielder Nelson Mwakazi and striker Richard Stevens will rejoin Grouville’s squad after this weekend following spells out of the Island.
Title challengers Jersey Scottish, the champions, and Trinity are both in action tomorrow too, Scottish away to relegation-threatened St Paul’s while Trinity host Rozel Rovers, the latter who have secured a top flight position again next season after winning their last two league matches.
Jersey Wanderers must avoid defeat against First Tower tomorrow, at the Hockey Club, or they will be relegated to Division II for the first time in Combination history.
