Doubles not tops for us, says coach

SONIA GRANT-YENDELL has highlighted the difficulties of double-headers as the reason why Guernsey could finish as low as fifth in the English Counties League South-West Division. The Sarnians' coach emphasised that her squad had the talent to be pushing for a top two place, but the cost of travelling to and from the island, which is the reason behind playing two games in two days three times each season, puts them at a major disadvantage.

'It is hard to try and go away and play fantastic netball two days following,' she said.

'The only way around it is to play single games on a weekend, but that's very expensive.'

As has been the case with both other double-header trips on which Guernsey have been this season, they won the first and lost the second game over the weekend.

The first was an impressive 42-37 victory in Plymouth over the then second-placed team, West Devon.

'It was our best performance all season. The team were feeling very low after the Commonwealth Games qualifiers trip was called off, but that was probably a good thing in one respect because they would have been very tired going into this weekend,' Grant-Yendell said.

'West Devon were a young team coached by the England under-17 coach so we knew it would be tough. They played a physical, aggressive game and it was hard for us.'

Although they got off to a tentative start and found themselves three goals down early on, Guernsey did not panic and realised that they needed to play strongly to succeed.

A couple of tactical changes at the end of the first quarter worked a treat and from defence to attack, the Sarnians were fantastic.

'We did not give them room to play and our shooters stood their ground and popped the goals in.

'In the fourth quarter we took a five-goal lead and the West Devon girls started feeling the pressure - they were missing goals and not getting the rebounds - while we relaxed because we were in control.

'I was really pleased with the result because West Devon were supposedly the tougher opposition of the weekend.'

However, having expended a lot of energy in that game, the following day, in Exeter, they could not produce a similar performance.

The first and second quarters against East Devon were tight and only one goal separated the sides at half-time, but in the third quarter tiredness set in and Guernsey began making mistakes. The excellent goal attack for the opposition made them pay and the game ended 56-40.

'We were really suffering from fatigue. Everybody just knew we were not able to do what we normally would do and we did not adapt our play accordingly. We needed to slow things down.

'It was a huge disappointment. The girls were absolutely gutted, as was I as player-coach, because we wanted to finish the season on a high by winning both games.'

Guernsey currently lie second in the division having completed their fixture programme with 24 points after four wins from seven matches.

The three teams directly below them have all accumulated 22 points thus far and have a game in hand. Two of them - West Devon and Herefordshire - meet each other in the final round of games, while East Devon have to play unbeaten table-toppers East Dorset.

With the Sarnians unable to affect what happens in those final games, their focus now turns to the inter-insular this weekend at Beau Sejour, where they will be looking to retain the senior A crown won at the same venue last year.

'This is the one that the girls really want to win,' said the player-coach.

Full preview to follow