Wimbledon hockey director Ben Marsden remains ambitious yet realistic ahead of the club’s first season in Europe.
Only eight seasons ago, the club were playing their hockey in the South League’s Hampshire and Surrey Division and, in their second season in the Men’s Premier Division last year, they qualified for Europe.
Wimbledon’s first Euro Hockey League match is against one of the favourites, AH&BC Amsterdam, on March 26 in the knockout round of 16.
Marsden said: “It will be a challenge against Amsterdam and I hope that we can perform well.
“We want to compete as well as we can but we will also enjoy the experience and learn from it.
“We are very ambitious yet realistic and in five years’ time, we want to be up there and challenging.
“For our match against Amsterdam, we have to take the club and supporters out there and we aim to have between 50 and 100 supporters.”
Marsden also believes that being the current English champions has made teams more determined to beat them this season.
He added: “There have been expectations on us as reigning champions. We want to try and do as well as possible.
“Teams want to come and beat the reigning champions.”
After Sunday’s emphatic 4-1 league victory against Surbiton, they now sit just four points behind Surbiton and are aiming to cement their position in the play-offs and push up the table.
Goals from Phil Ball, Ian Sloan and Caspar Phijffer ensured Wimbledon clinched all three points and won their second game in a row after three consecutive defeats.
They travel to Beeston next, who are struggling near the bottom of the table.
Marsden said: “Beeston are in a surprising position in the league. They are not a bad team and it’s easy to go into games like this and take our foot off the gas.
“They will be fighting very hard and every game is a battle for them, so the slightest bit of complacency could make the difference.”
Image courtesy of Galvanised Hockey via YouTube, with thanks
