Stroud Hockey Club head to Ross-on-Wye on Saturday for what captain Dan Clifford says is a “do or die” game in their quest for the West Division 2 East title.

Ross hold a five-point advantage going into the closing stages of the campaign, so anything less than a win will all but scupper Stroud’s hopes of being crowned champions.

Only one team will go up to Division 1 North and Clifford, who is in his 11^th season as captain of the men’s flagship team, said: “We’ve got to go there and get a result. We’ve got to stick everything we can into it.”

Ross have lost just once in 14 games this season – both Stroud and Ross have six matches to play – and one of their 13 wins came at Stroud in mid-November when they won 5-0.

“We were very, very poor that day,” admitted Clifford. “That’s why there is a bit of a gap between the two teams in the league. We’ve got to go there and get revenge.

“We were short of three key players when they beat us which never helps, but we didn’t have a very good day at the office. They took their opportunities and deserved to win.”

Ross have a superior goal difference – 33 to 22 – but Clifford is certainly not conceding the title just yet.

He first played for the club back in the early 1990s so knows what it would mean if they could finish the season on top of the table.

“It would mean a lot,” he said. “It would be a real statement and take us a to a level we’ve never played at before.”

Stroud finished sixth in 2021/22 so this campaign has seen a marked improvement, and whatever happens over the final few weeks, it has been a good season.

“It’s been brilliant,” continued Clifford. “On the whole we’ve been much more consistent. We’ve had really good numbers to training and at matches, that makes a big difference.”

And Clifford, who has scored more than 500 goals for the club, plans to continue as captain.

“I’ve said I’m going to do one more,” he said.

And he’d love it if his final season as skipper – if indeed it is! – was in Division 1 North.

That would see them rubbing shoulders with Gloucester City along with a number of teams from Bristol and Bath, and Clifford added: “It’s a very good standard.”