TWO sides who won promotion to the top flight in the Slazenger Harrogate and District League last season are making a swift return to Division Two.

Bedale, who won the second division title last term, had the final nail hammered in their relegation coffin.

They lost their final match of the season 8-1 against newly-crowned champions Boroughbridge.

Boroughbridge were still full of beans after taking the title, with Bedale swept aside on a crest-of-a-wave performance by the new championship winners.

Boroughbridge ended their season four points ahead of their nearest rivals, The Academy and Thirsk.

Match scores. - Boroughbridge 8 Bedale 1 (Boroughbridge names first): Graeme Campbell and Gayle Partridge beat Mark Scarlett and Alison Johnson 6-2, 6-4; beat Chris James and Helen Broadwith 6-0; beat N Walker and Sally-Anne Murray 6-0.

John Rowe and Kathy Farrand beat Scarlett and Johnson 6-3; beat James and Broadwith 6-2, 6-2; beat Walker and Murray 6-1.

Enric Bertran and Suzanne Lodge lost to Scarlett and Johnson 4-6; beat James and Broadwith 6-2; beat Walker and Murray 6-0, 6-4.

Joining Bedale in the second division next year are Harrogate Racquets A. The Racquets side could have stayed up had they not suffered two penalty points for failing to fulfil a fixture - and won the match.

Harrogate Spa, who also suffered a two-point penalty for not playing a match, escaped the drop after a bright start to the season which evaporated as the temperatures soared.

Raskelf produced a Houdini-style escape act from relegation in Division Two by winning their final clash of the season 7-2 at Harrogate Racquets B.

Results. - Div One: Boroughbridge 8 Bedale 1. Div Two: Harrogate Racquets B 2 Raskelf 7. Div Four: Racquets C 1 Wetherby A 8; Boroughbridge A 6.5 Dacre A 2.5. Div Five: Birstwith 5 Masham A 4; Wetherby B 1.5 Ripon B 7.5. Div Six: Dacre B 5.5 Ripon C 3.5; Starbeck A 8 Knaresborough B 1.

* Laura Gilbert, from Boroughbridge, reached the 13 and under singles quarter-finals in the Ariel national junior championships in Bournemouth.

The Tennis World-trained youngster, seeded seven, defeated Nadine Steward of Oxfordshire 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 and Alison Loades of Cambridgeshire 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 before being stopped by the eventual champion Samantha Evans 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The North Yorkshire junior also made the last eight in the doubles with Jocelyn Rae of Nottinghamshire as her partner.

Laura's training partner at Tennis World, Sophie Proctor, was a semi-finalist in both the singles and the doubles