Young guns take chance

A FIRST defeat in Southern Region Division Two was tempered by the promising performances of Guern-sey's young guns at the weekend. Island player-coach Sonia Grant-Yendell revealed that just two days before the 54-37 defeat away to Bucks, she was struggling to field a team for various reasons.

However, Gemma Loveridge and Lyndsey Bougourd were late additions and both were impressive in their first full game for the seniors.

'It was disappointing in that I know that with the normal squad the scoreline would have been reversed, but I was also very pleased because I thought the youngsters did us proud,' Grant-Yendell said.

'We have never had as many youngsters on court at the same time in a senior game. They were also disappointed with the result but they got a lot out of it.'

The coach was delighted to be within one goal at the end of the first quarter but the damage was done in the next period.

'We made some changes and took Tanya Gibson off because we wanted to rest her for later in the game so we had all juniors together in the defensive end of court,' said Grant-Yendell.

'They had no one to lead them as such and it affected our game. We turned over the ball and lost possession too often.

'Their shooter started to find her range. She was tall and had a very big jump so they went route one all the time and for our defenders it was very difficult. They ran ahead 16-6 in that quarter.'

The response was encouraging, though, losing the third quarter by one goal and the final period by five.

The coach reserved special praise for Bougourd.

'Lyndsey had a phenomenal game. She was up against someone from my old club who is very experienced and she gave her a really good run for her money, made numerous interceptions and showed so much energy and effort,' she said.

'I was really impressed with her considering it was her first full game, and Gemma as well. That was a big debut for both of them and they just played exceptionally well.'

Grant-Yendell added that all the junior players were responsive to their coaches' input.

'They really enjoyed the game, they felt they played well but they could see that there were areas for improvement.

'From a coaches' point of view, both Gill and I feel that we have got a really good group of youngsters coming through and because of the way they played at the weekend, we will have no hesitation in chucking them in at the deep end in future.'

Guernsey have now played three and won two in the division, but have also been awarded a walkover.

The Sarnians' next outing is on 11 February against Sussex.

'I think that is going to be our hardest game,' Grant-Yendell said.

'We will be without Nena Bour-gaize, which will cause some difficulty because she is a quality player and was outstanding again on Saturday.

'Hopefully, though, we will have Kerrie Hussey, Lorna Bown and Kerri Brown back in the frame.'