Good news for those of you who have to share your Sky TV subscription at home with a football fan, there will be no arguing over who has the remote control on Friday because there is only one decent match worth watching, and it’s in the FIAT Netball Superleague.
The head to head with TeamBath and Northern Thunder was an absolute gem and was watched by 1,197 paying fans at the Sports Training Village at Bath University, by our calculations that’s a record crowd for a match in the regular season. And boy did they get value for money.
Bath blasted into an early lead winning the opening quarter 19-12, with Jo Binns starting at wing-attack and playing her last match for the team this season, but it was Pam Cookey at GS who played the perfect quarter (10 from 10), ably assisted by Asha Tett who was 90% accurate from her ten shots.
The tables were turned however in the second quarter as Thunder’s shooters stepped up. Karen Greig and Charley Beenham didn’t miss a beat, 10 from 10 for the GS, 8 from 8 for the GA.
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The visitors went on a ten-goal run without Bath getting a look in and it was difficult to work out why the communication between the players had broken down, centre-passes were going awry and in some cases directly to opposition. TeamBath were disconnected and scrabbling for possession.
A medical time-out with around 12 minutes played allowed Jess Garland the opportunity to move her players around during the second quarter. Gemma Fletcher came off, Guthrie went to WD, Binns to C, Tett to WA, Cookey to GA and Kirsty Delves came on at GS but the damage was done and they lost that quarter 18 goals to 7.
The match took another turn after the half-time break when Bath had regrouped and taken to the court with renewed purpose. Stacey Francis is becoming a major force to be reckoned with, and in a series of crowd-pleasing interceptions helped turnover balls that took the home-side back in front by one goal with one quarter to play.
Northern Thunder brought some heavyweight action into the shooting circle with new signing Lynsey Armitage taking over at GS as Karen Greig moved out to GA, marking her debut with the team with bang-on 11 from 11.
The 15 goals in 15 minutes sealed the win for Thunder who remain unbeaten in the FIAT Netball Superleague. But credit too to Sara Bayman who was, by common consent, outstanding first at WD and then at C, marshalling her forces in the mid-court with Bath countering at every cut and thrust.
“We played some of the most amazing stuff we have produced this season in the first quarter but in the second it was a like a switch went and we disconnected”, said Bath skipper Pamela Cookey.
Northern Thunder’s captain Karen Greig said: “We learnt from our mistakes early on. We maintained our composure and kept possession well. Everyone had a great game and it was good to get Lyndsey on for the final quarter – she definitely made an impact.”
Mike Greenwood, Snr, Assistant coach commented: “I thought we had a great game; all 3 shooters did brilliant. Our physio Areej did a great job on Emma Dovey’s quad injury to keep our defensive pair together – they had their hands full with Pamela Cookey.
“A great team performance to give us our six in a row and first ever victory over Team Bath.”
TeamBath head coach Jess Garland added: “It was a bitter-sweet match. We played the best we have played all year except in the second quarter when we pressed the self-destruct button and gifted errors to Thunder and you can’t do that against a team of Thunder’s calibre.”
You can see all this for yourself on Thursday March 10, 2011 on Sky Sports 4 at 17:30.
TEAMBATH 49-52 NORTHERN THUNDER
Lisa O’Sullivan – England Netball Match Reporter, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
