How Clifton Robinsons’ sound start gives them a platform

Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper speaks to the Vitality Women’s Premier Division side looking to reach the top six in the first half of the campaign.

Clifton Robinsons will be aiming to overturn a university hoodoo this weekend in the Vitality Women’s Premier Division and keep both home form and a top six place in tact.

The Robbies welcome University of Nottingham to Bristol for the first time in the National League on Saturday after losing to Loughborough and Birmingham this season.

Clifton enjoyed a sound start to the Premier Division with two opening victories and a largely new squad, albeit with players who had plenty of hockey over the summer.

Five of Clifton’s players competed in the Commonwealth Games (including Wales’ Eloise Laity pictured above), while the club saw an influx of seven new players overall as head coach Juliet Rayden was challenged with resting players and connecting a new squad. 

“I was pleased with the way we gelled quickly as a group,” she said. “That led to us having a promising start in the opening games and the performances were really encouraging.”

Rayden and her staff then had to work out how to manage the Welsh internationals’ workload. She admitted: “We want to make sure they are fighting fit in February and make sure you aren’t burning them out too soon. But they have come in really sharp.

“You have to treat each athlete individually and not as a group. It is difficult as a lot of the Welsh players have given up holiday over the year. I fully support them when they need to take a break [in the season]. For them as an individual and us as a team going forwards, it is the right thing to do and I fully support that with the athlete coming first.”

Rayden is enthused by the club’s strength in numbers this season after seeing a dip last year, perhaps due to the Covid fallout. Now, she is setting her sights on securing a top six place come Christmas.

She said: “It’s up to us to consistently perform. The losses we’ve had were when we just haven’t performed as well as we should have. Finish a game, review and back into training; it is quite relentless but the big challenge in this league is to be consistent.”

Rayden is into her fourth season as head coach, which also includes overseeing the cup campaign and indoor season, where the club are in Division 1. She coaches alongside her job running a company which supports primary schools in delivering high quality PE.

“I love it and am passionate about it,” she says of her Clifton role. “It is challenging time-wise, it’s like a second job but it’s really rewarding.

“I do have flexibility. I can cast my eye on a game from time to time while looking over emails and I have a great squad who share the load with me.”

Clifton Robinsons will also be gunning for another Cup run this season by entering the England Hockey Championship. The Bristol side has reached four of the last five finals, lifting the trophy once in that time. “It is a tradition with us. We’ve always tried to go as far as we can with it and it’s a great opportunity for some of the youngsters.”

Rayden admits that University of Nottingham will pose a challenge this weekend. “Losing against Birmingham and Loughborough, we have struggled against university sides a little bit,” she said. “Nottingham are an exciting and attacking side and we will need to do our off the ball stuff well against them.”

Saturday: Clifton Robinsons v University of Nottingham 12pm