Player-coach Ben Allberry (foreground) and skipper Andy Whalley.

GUERNSEY hockey is 24 hours away from the most important match in its history.

Tomorrow afternoon the island men’s side step onto Old Loughtonians’ lush, water-based pitch in Essex, to face Henley in the final of the Harrod UK Men’s Trophy.

Guernsey have never progressed further than the quarter-finals of the national competition until this year.

Player-coach Ben Allberry recognised the enormity of the game but said it was not getting to him or his players.

‘People keep asking me if we’re getting nervous and I don’t think we are,’ he said.

‘Our hardest game, mentally, was the quarter-finals to get the furthest we’ve ever got. We just can’t get wait to get out there.’

The island side have certainly been boosted by the arrival of Allberry.

The former Premier League star took up the reins as the island’s hockey development officer at the start of the season.