THE Jersey FA Women’s team go into tonight’s fixture with a good blend of confidence, excitement and the “strongest squad” they have had.
Jersey travel to Kent today for their penultimate tie in the Southern Counties Cup, knowing a win would set them up for potentially winning the competition in front of a home crowd.
They stand a good chance too. Kent are currently bottom of the group after losses to Middlesex and the Army. Meanwhile, Jersey held Middlesex to a 0-0 draw before pulling off a huge win away at Essex. Army provide Jersey with their final fixture, provisionally pencilled in on the evening of Tuesday 6 February at Springfield. But first, captain Libby Barnett says the team are fully focused on getting past the challenge of Kent.
“We’ve played in this cup before and perhaps we didn’t expect to be so competitive. But we’ve got a really fantastic squad and tonight is the strongest squad yet,” said Barnett.
“These games breathe a bit of life back into the women’s game for some players, what with the struggles of the local women’s league and it provides opportunities to play new opposition.
“The difficulty, though, with these sorts of games is availability can change from game to game. Therefore, we’ve just got to focus on ourselves. We’ve prepared really well.”
Jersey’s squad are enjoying a heady mix of experience and youth, not just from the domestic league but, for some, getting regular exposure to competitive football in the UK too.
They include Southampton Women FC’s duo of Sara Luce and Megan Wood, while Macey Wyse, Leah Morris and Danni da Silva are playing regularly for their university teams, and some club football on the side, with Morris playing for Worthing in the same division as Luce and Wood.
“It’s great for them to go away and not only get experience and develop as players but get to play against different opposition week in and week out, which is invaluable,” added Barnett.
“In Jersey it is repetitive and we all know the players of the opposition because they are also our teammates.
“So they are really developing football knowledge, tactical and technical abilities and we definitely see that transfer into our representative side. It’s great that we have the opportunity to link up with them again and I’m really looking forward to welcoming them back into the squad.
“We’ve also got some younger players coming through and fighting for places along with older, experienced players who have been in and around the squad for a long time.
“Hopefully we will get the performance that we are looking for.”
Jersey squad: Sara Luce, Libby Barnett (c), Sofia Rodrigues, Hannah Campbell, Holly Muirhead, Leah Morris, Danni da Silva, Hannah Lynam, Megan Wood, Tiffany Sundby, Ella Docherty, Jodie Botterill, Macey Wyse, Emily Le Page, Sophie Botterill.
