Portsmouth News

Head coach Mike an award winner as Nomads look for new blood

Westall’s assistant is also among those honoured ...

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early, said Horrod, who was skippering Nomads for the eighth season running.

‘We were fourth at the time but we still had two of the teams above us to play.

‘We had a tough start as we lost our head coach for family reasons and I couldn’t play until Christmas time.

Nomads skipper Ben Horrod

‘But the boys who were involved did really well, and once we got some experience­d players back we pushed on.’

Horrod was absent as he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in September. Happily, after an operation and a dose of chemothera­py, he returned to action.

Nomads have always played in Hampshire 2 since

Horrod arrived from

Gosport & Fareham eight years ago. But the club are keen to bolster their numbers and hopefully win promotion to Hampshire 1.

‘We would like to try and field a 2nd team more regularly – be that once a month or every couple of weeks,’ Horrod admitted.

‘The club’s aim is to boost the size of the playing pool and push for promotion

Nomads won eight of their last nine Hampshire 2 games in 2019/20 to Hampshire 1.

‘We have had the odd 2nd team game in recent years, but we need more players.

‘Our biggest challenge is recruitmen­t.

‘We are the third club on the island after Portsmouth and United Services, so we have to recruit where we can.

‘Even Portsmouth’s 2nd team are playing at a level higher than we are.

‘That’s our biggest challenge. Most of our recruitmen­t is from people who have hardly played before or never played at all, and we’ve developed them into players.’

We are the third club on the island, recruitmen­t is our biggest challenge

 ??  ?? CHAIRMAN’S AWARD Mike Westall (middle) watched by Nomads skipper Ben Horrod (left)
CHAIRMAN’S AWARD Mike Westall (middle) watched by Nomads skipper Ben Horrod (left)

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