Holcombe Ladies head coach Kevin Johnson expects the club to be rocking when champions and local rivals Canterbury come to town.

Johnson’s league newcomers host the Premier Division title holders on Saturday at Holcombe Park.

Both teams made winning starts to their league campaigns at the weekend, with Holcombe seeing off Bowdon Hightown 3-0.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but we wanted to be competitive to start with and we were,” said Johnson.

“It was probably one of our most controlled performances. We took the sting out of it early on and dominated play.

“Saturday was the first time we had really been able to get all of our key players out there because of injuries and unavailability and the main concern was how well we would gel. We can only get better now.”

Canterbury, meanwhile, beat Beeston 5-1.

“It’s great to be up at this level playing the likes of Canterbury,” said the former Polo Farm player.

“I know lots of players of other clubs are coming to watch this one as it’s a 6pm start and many would have already played their games. The place will be rocking."

Holcombe have jumped up two divisions in two years to reach the top of English league hockey and Johnson makes no secret of wanting what Canterbury have got.

“We are like the noisy neighbours at the moment,” he said. “We’re in a new league and so we are still settling and we’re going to be facing a lot of tough challenges this season."