JERSEY’S men’s hockey first XI will travel to face Didsbury in their bid to reach a National Trophy semi-final next month.

The Investec squad beat south east London outfit Bexleyheath and Belvedere 3-2 at Les Quennevais on Sunday to equal their best-ever result in the competition, thanks to goals from Mark Dicker (2) and Stuart Ramskill.

Yet it was a tentative start for the Islanders, who are unused to playing a match of such importance in front of a home crowd. Coach Shelagh Herbert said: ‘We really want to get our players used to playing high-performance games at home.

‘Everyone who came to watch the game will have noticed how nervous the players were for the first ten minutes – when we play away it is much less nerve-racking, because they are pretty anonymous, so they always start the game better.’

Jersey face Didsbury Northern away on 8 March.

• Picture: Bobby Minty for Jersey in the game against Bexleyheath & Belvedere. Pictures by Richard Wainwright (00626254)