A very rare occasion will occur this Saturday when Bacchas A men’s will play their England Hockey Trophy third round tie at home at the National Sports Centre.
Home ties for most teams in the trophy and vase competitions have to be played in the UK as part of the ruling if the team don’t want to travel or costs less to play in the UK rather than having to pay to travel to the island.
On this occasion Rugby and East Warwickshire have agreed to travel to the Isle of Man and the match will take place at the NSC.
Bacchas take on Rugby after a thrilling win over Harrogate in the second round which went all the way to strokes after a 2-2 draw, ultimately winning 5-4 on strokes.
Rugby currently top Midlands Division One with 12 wins, one draw and one defeat to their name so far this season.
Bacchas are five games into their campaign following Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over Vikings in the men’s cup, but have had held extra training, fitness and technical/tactical sessions to prepare for what looks like a tough tie.
The Harrison brothers have found fine form in the senior ranks this year and proved themselves in the second round tie worthy of man of the match performances.
Bacchas will be looking to use the fast-paced players to counter-attack well on the break alongside the league’s top goal scorer Andy Whiting to convert their chances.
They have, however, have lost Tom Wilson to Vikings over the last two weeks and will miss the utility player.
Two National League umpires will be making the journey across to the island, Matt Harrison who is on the Premier Panel and Jonathan Hull who is on the National leagues B panel and previously umpired in the island and is still part of the Isle of Man Hockey Umpires Association infrastructure.
The game will push back at 2.30pm on Saturday at the NSC. Cup and plate games have been arranged this weekend to tie in with the game so a big crowd is expected.
Bacchas squad: Goalkeeper - Greg Turner, captain Jamie Brown, James Harrison, George Harrison, Jonny Callow, Andrew Whiting, Gareth Craig, Chris Bass, Tony Bentley-Roberts, Craig Leece, Andrew Vernon-Browne, Will Greenbank, Paul Griffiths, Dave Whiting (GK).