Jason Weber, Simon Watling, Matt Banahan, Stuart Ramskill, Ed Lewis (all JHC), Richard Finch and Paul Marshallsay (OVs) travelled with nine of their Guernsey counterparts to compete in the championships which were held in Rochester, Kent.They were competing in one of four Division A pools and played against four of the biggest counties, Kent, Bedfordshire, Sussex and Essex.Although they were disappointed to lose all four of their matches over the two days and drop to Division B, the standard of play and the final scores showed that the CI can hold their own against the big boys.Kent 4, Channel Islands 2: Stuart Ramskill gave the CI an early lead.
Kent equalised but Simon Watling put the CI a goal up again, from a short corner, but in the second half CI defenders were punished for errors and Kent scored two more to win.Bedfordshire 5, CI 4: CI were 2-0 down early on but led 3-2 at the break, all three goals coming from short corners through Watling.
Beds took a 4-3 lead; another Watling goal levelled the score, but Beds took the win with a late goal.Sussex 5, CI 1: Another Watling short corner goal, but Sussex played the best hockey in the competition.Essex 5, CI 2: CI goals came from Watling and Andy Whalley, but a tired CI team, although battling hard, had two players sin-binned for late tackles and Essex took the advantage to win.CI squad: Jason Weber, Simon Watling, Matt Banahan, Stuart Ramskill, Ed Lewis Richard Finch, Paul Marshallsay (Jersey), Kees Jager, Jamie Chambers, Kevin Doyle, Adie Peacegood, Mark Babbe, Damian Wallen, Andy Alford, Andy Whalley, Ben Lanoe, Adam Kitching, Rob Newton (Guernsey).
