VOLLEYBALL: THE Eels are forging closer links to the city by changing their name to Chester and Ellesmere Port Eels.

The club has been playing and training at the Cheshire County Sports Club since October as well as the Ellesmere Port Indoor Centre, and the new name reflects their connection with Chester.

The Ladies, who have applied for membership of the National League next season, remain unbeaten following a 3-0 win at Knutsford on Sunday, despite being without French pair Gaelle Barbotin and Nelly Bosier.

Knutsford took an early 6-2 lead which Eels struggled to pull back, with the hosts changing their cover pattern from their previous meeting a month ago.

This initially confounded Eels and even when the team became aware of the change, they still had problems in finding the defensive gaps.

But as the first set progressed, Eels were able to find the composure needed to secure a narrow 25-22 victory.

The second set was slightly more straightforward as Knutsford's service receive let them down on a number of occasions, giving them less opportunities to attack. And with the momentum firmly with Eels, they won 25-15.

To Knutsford's credit, they bounced back in the third set to take full advantage of a period of lazy play by Eels to lead 22-18.

An Eels timeout had an immediate effect as the team refocused to bring the set level at 22-22.

A serve into the net gave the initiative back to Knutsford but Eels were in no mood to lose and although they failed to take match point at 24-23, they did so three points later to win 26-24 and take the match 3-0 for their 11th straight win. Ann Marie Davies was MVP.

In an otherwise quiet week, the men's B team slipped to a 3-2 defeat at EPVIC to bring to an end a run of 22 successive wins by Eels' four Merseyside League teams.

Anyone interested in more details on Eels can contact John Roach on 07715 005 612 or send an e-mail to johnroach.eels@ntlworld.com