POOLE’S match racers fought back from race one drama to leave their Elliott 6m semi-final hopes delicately poised last night.

Skipper Lucy Macgregor and crew Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor were paired against the in-form Russian boat after finishing a disappointing seventh in the round robin phase.

The quarter-finals sees each pairing battle it out over a five-race series, with the winners qualifying directly to the semi-finals and the losers moving into the fifth-eighth place sail-off.

The Russian crew of Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Syuzeva and Elena Oblova took the race one honours on Weymouth’s Nothe course yesterday, but ‘MacLush’ battled back strongly to claim a tight race two ahead of today’s final three matches.

Lucy Macgregor said: “It was really tight racing but we loved it and we are extremely pleased to come out with a race win and it being 1-1 at the end of the day.

“In our first race we had a bit of a drama, firstly with me getting a penalty pre-start, which was a bit unnecessary. We then got the spinnaker sheet stuck under the front of the boat, which meant Kate had to sort that out on the second beat.

“That was a shame as the Russians had a penalty and there was a good chance for us to extend but we came back strongly in the second race which is the main thing.”

Lush added: “I really wanted to go out there again!

“I was a bit frustrated after the first race as we lost it on something stupid but we are ready to go out today and do it again.”