IN their first year in the South-West Premier League, Jersey’s top netball team have set an impressive record by becoming the first club to avoid relegation in their debut season.

No other promoted side has been able to retain a place in this division since its induction a couple of years ago, but J United have become the exception to the rule.

‘We were warned before the season, and it was said in the nicest possible way, that we should be prepared for the possibility that we might get beaten quite often,’ explained proud J United coach Ally Meredith, whose team picked up six points with a win and a loss from their two matches on Sunday. ‘They were trying to offer advice and basically make us aware that every team that had come up in the past had gone straight back down again. So it’s nice to prove them wrong and be the first team to stay up.’

Jersey were only able to send eight players to their two games at the weekend, with Laura Macfarlane withdrawing at a late stage through illness. However, the team rallied together and secured a crucial 48-39 win over the club below them in the league, St Austell Marjons, but didn’t have the legs to close out their second game as they lost 56-46 to Galmington, picking up a bonus point in the process for reaching over half their opponents’ score.

‘I was really interested to see the results in these matches because we played Galmington first last time and beat them and St Austell second last time and lost to them,’ said Meredith. ‘It just shows that if we only had one match a weekend we would probably have had more victories, which is frustrating because I can see that we are good enough to beat some of these teams.

‘We’ve now got two games left, against the leaders, Plymouth Pilgrims, and the team who will be relegated, Old Chelts. If we can get bonus points against Pilgrims and a win against Chelts we could take sixth place from Team Bath Toucans, which would be a great result in our first season at this level.’

The final two matches will be played on 20 April and the squad for them is: Laura Beeston, Lynsey Pitman, Jenna Meredith (captain), Carol McKeon, Jacy Brown, Calli Bushell, Sarah Thatcher and Sharon West.