Women's trio 'sharper' after national battles

GUERNSEY have been relegated from Division Two of the Women's British League after a tough weekend in Cheltenham. The team of Dawn Morgan, Kay Chivers and Helen Fooks won two matches, lost two and drew one in the second weekend of the competition.

They finished fifth of six teams and have been relegated to the third division.

But Chivers said that the standard should be fairly similar.

'The competition is quite close and even though we were relegated, there's not a lot of difference between the divisions, with two up and two down each year,' she said.

It was the local team's second season in the British League. The first ended in disaster when they were unable to make the second round of matches in the UK due to fog.

The structure of the league sees all six sides in each division meeting on neutral ground once in September and again in January, when they all play each other over one weekend.

Guernsey's first two matches produced the same result as four months previously. Draycott & Long Eaton and Elgre both inflicted 4-2 defeats on the Sarnians.

In the first fixture, Morgan and Chivers took a match each; against Elgre, Morgan recorded both Guernsey points. Chivers lost her first game on deuce in the decider - starting a pattern of being edged out in close matches that was to haunt the Guernsey team.

Guernsey drew 3-3 with York Gardens, a team that was defeated in the first round. Morgan again took two matches and Chivers one, while she lost her second in the fifth set. Fooks also lost one match in the fifth.

Guernsey settled better on the second day of competition. Hanbury were beaten 4-2 (Morgan 2, Chivers and Fooks) and Irish Ladies 2 were seen off by the same scoreline, with Morgan and Chivers both unbeaten.

'It went very well and we were unlucky with some of the results,' said Chivers.

'Some of the games could have gone either way and we could have won or drawn matches.'

She said that involvement in the British League, in which Guernsey men also take part, was a worthwhile experience.

'It gives you all kinds of games, playing different people of a different standard. It's a new experience and most people you play are probably slightly better than us and you notice the difference when you come back from the weekends; you're that bit sharper.'

Morgan took nine out of a possible 10 matches.

'I was really pleased, personally,' she said.

' I don't think I could have done any better. If we'd done as well as this last time, we wouldn't have been relegated.

'This is all good experience. We still lack exposure at the highest level to get us up to that standard.'

Over the two weekends of competition, Morgan won 13 of 20 matches played, Chivers 12 and Fooks two.