We were lucky enough to catch up with our Green Lionesses' manager Anna Gauvain and are happy to share her latest updates and thoughts with you here.

The Green Lionesses will travel to Jersey to face St Peter Women this weekend in a friendly fixture.

This is a huge opportunity for the coaches to take a full squad and a chance to see more players in a match day environment, getting used to travelling and being part of the squad. Our away trips so far have been a great opportunity for the girls to get to bond socially, and have a bit of a laugh and a joke together on the coach journeys, for example. We're really looking forward to having more of those experiences on a regular basis in the future, but what we have had so far this year has been a great taster of what is to come.

On our Jersey trip, the coaches plan to give minutes to some of the newer players such as youngster Eleanor Jamieson (age 16), Kirstie Marquis (GB softball player who has recently taken up the sport) and Emily McCartney who has recently come back to the game. Sophie Gallienne will also be putting on the kit for the first time after injury has kept her out of other matches so far this season.

It will be a useful exercise ahead of the potential league confirmation knowing that we have depth in our squad in order to compete regularly. It was always our aim with becoming part of Guernsey FC to apply to a league and be able to play week in, week out in a league environment, making sure that we've got the next fixture already in place, so a league structure will provide that for us. We've built up to a stage where we've got options all over the pitch now with all positions covered, so it's been a good year to have some practice, have some friendly fixtures, and the experience of the cup matches of course. The natural next step is to settle into a league and be competitive within that framework as well.

Each game we've had so far has tested us in different ways but we've shown that we can hold our own and that we've got plenty to work with now, looking back over the footage. The training group is up to around 30 now which has been fantastic to see and it really challenges us as coaches to raise the standard. We have been working with individuals as well to improve their performance as well as that of the team as a whole. It's great that our numbers are consistently high. With a large group to keep engaged, and all the wet weather of recent months, it's been great having the facility at Aztech Soccer. It really is a fantastic set-up.

As coaches we've all been working hard to get to know all the girls individually, and to work with such a large group. We've learnt a huge amount in terms of making sure the coaching sessions are challenging, but also trying to juggle and cater for the differing abilities that we've had coming in and bringing everybody up to speed. We're loving the challenge, because obviously that's what we all came to this project for. The friendly match coming up this weekend also gives us a chance to try different formations and look at pairings on the pitch that we have in mind but have not seen yet in our cup games.

As a coaching team we each have something different to bring to the table, and we can question each other at times as well which is healthy and keeps us all on our toes. That's what a coaching team is for: if someone puts something on then another person can add their bit, or if we've had a bad session we can all get together and chat about it and see what we can do better, so the four of us seem to be working really well together.

We also have a Cup semi-final match to come in April, and should we be successful then a final awaits in early May. The club training will then take a break as some of the players focus on representing the island in the Muratti.

All these opportunities are coming about because of the commitment and dedication the girls have shown in training and their desire to play. Big thanks to our founder partners and everyone who has supported us with our fundraising efforts and to the club for helping us start our journey. It's exciting to see some even younger players getting involved as well, such as Molly Watson and Chloe Ingrouille. I can absolutely see them pushing on into the main squad once they reach the age of sixteen. They've been training with the girls for about six months now and the improvement they've made has been massive. They really do bring something to each session now, it's not just about having them involved because they're youngsters. They're actually holding their own, and the other girls want them on their team now! It just goes to show how important this club's formation is for our local women's game, and how inviting the set-up is as a pathway to get involved in football and really strive to improve.

Whilst it’s been frustrating not to have had as many games as we hoped due to weather and other factors, it has been a great start on the journey, breaking us in gently to what it is like to be part of Guernsey Football Club. Having postponements in planned games is bound to be frustrating as it's what our girls play their football for. With such good numbers at training now, we've been able to have some in-house matches, but competitive fixtures are what we want to have, and there's no substitute for that really.

We can’t wait for more and look forward to welcoming fans to a home game.