Nerine find a plus in defeat

NERINE TRUST were far from despondent despite suffering two defeats in the opening double-header of the National Clubs League season. Roman Glass and Just Ahead both secured victories over Gill Queripel's side in Bournemouth, but with several squad members missing and a threadbare bench to call on, the Guernsey team's coach was proud of her players' efforts.

'We got a point off both teams, which we did not do last year,' said Queripel.

'I felt we should have won against Just Ahead. They were terrified, they thought we were going to beat them, but we didn't, although we can still take an awful lot of positives from the weekend.'

In a virtual repeat of their encounter last year, Roman Glass got off to a flyer and established a 16-goal advantage early on before Nerine got into their stride.

They matched their English opponents for the remainder of the game but the damage had been done, as was reflected in the final 53-39 scoreline.

The following day against the much more physical Just Ahead outfit, Nerine made a better start and the game was quite close until their opponents were able to bring on fresh legs late on and they won the match 40-30.

'The fact that we have not played any local league matches did not help us. We have been playing against a really good boys' side and that has been great; they have sharpened us up and without them we would have struggled even more.

'We were having to find our feet and get rid of the cobwebs and we were having to do it against teams that were damn good,' Queripel said.

Over the two matches there were some exceptional individual performances, not least from 15-year-old goal-attack Kerri Brown who played throughout the weekend.

'Kerri did very well. For a kid that age, coming into the NCL can be daunting, but once she found her feet she was excellent and both teams we played remarked on how well she did,' said Queripel.

Nerine open their domestic season against Barclays Masters tomorrow evening at Beau Sejour.