Ogier takes Wood's place for crunch match

GUERNSEY faces a 'must win' game away to East Dorset in Poole tomorrow. After losing the season's opener in National Club League Division One at home to Esporta Croydon, the Sarnians cannot afford another loss against one of the weaker clubs in the top flight.

'Along with Jersey and us, East Dorset is probably the weakest team in the league,' said player-coach Pieter Theron.

'It's a must win match for us,' the Guernsey number one added.

There is one change to the team that lost the first match, with Patrick Ogier coming in at number three single in place of the unavailable Jimmy Wood.

Theron said that the change would strengthen the team as far as singles went, but Wood would have played in the doubles.

Second-string Rob West and fourth Dom McLuskey are the other singles selections, while Niel de Kock, a doubles specialist, comes in to partner Theron in the number one pairing. West and McLuskey are the second pair.

The Guernsey squad still awaits news of what type of surface it will be playing on.

The East Dorset club has 19 outdoor courts, ranging from hard to artificial grass and grass.

'Their captain said he hasn't decided on what surface he wants to play,' said Theron, who hopes the choice is the hardest of the three.

'We've been training on hard courts all winter, so we'd like that. But we will have a session on Saturday on artificial grass.

Theron expects another tight match.

'We were a bit unlucky in our first match. It could easily have been 3-3.

'It's going to be really tough, but the whole season is going to be tough,' said Theron of a league which features 15 players with higher ratings than Jersey's 3.2 rated star, Jeremy Cross.

The latter has scooped Island Games gold medals and been the dominant force in CI tennis for some time, but even he will struggle at this level against players such as Lee Childs, ranked 325 in the world, and Luke Milligan, who played in the main draw at Wimbledon last year.

Regardless of the results, player development is paramount and Theron believes the island men are making big strides.

'The level here has risen 20% in the last two years,' said Theron.