Panthers have a mountain to climb

The Guernsey outfit had won just once in their opening seven matches of this Division Two South season to leave them rock-bottom ahead of their trip to Shooting Stars.

But with that solitary success actually coming in comprehensive fashion against the same opposition, hopes were high of a return to form in Gosport.

That confidence proved unjustified, though, as the hosts made a quick start to hurt Panthers early on and then extend their advantage further to wrap up a one-sided 49-31 victory.

Preparations were far from ideal for the visiting Panthers, who had just a five-minute warm-up after flight delays and a subsequent last-minute venue switch.

However, experienced Hall, who played the whole game in defence, said that was not the reason for defeat.

‘It certainly wasn’t great getting there and having to play straight away, but that is part-and-parcel of travelling away, those things can happen and you have to get on with it,’ she said.

‘It definitely wasn’t the reason we lost, we just weren’t clinical enough at all and that was particularly frustrating because I wouldn’t say they [Shooting Stars] were that much better than us.

‘There were quite a lot of errors on both sides, but they took their chances better than us and, to be fair, they deserved to win – although I don’t think they were 18 goals better than us.

‘We were quite a way behind going into the final quarter but we made 20 turnovers, which is a fantastic number, only to not convert anywhere near enough of them – we only have ourselves to blame for that.’

By not picking up any losing bonus points, Panthers remain in the sole automatic relegation spot and are now eight points adrift of Meon.

They desperately need a response but that will not be easy as they host league leaders Brize Jets, who lost for the first time this season against Swan, in 12 days’ time at Beau Sejour.

• More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.