Category: Match Reports

Well, what a game. The game started with a hiss and a roar and we were quickly away with a steady lead. Excellent hustle through the middle made it difficult for Teddington to get the ball to their shooters, and allowed our defensive unit to pick off some great intercepts. Despite Teddington having deceptively long arms, our attackers had some stellar feeds into our very swift shooting unit, with a few successful and (not so successful) bombs being thrown in from as far past the centre circle. The conclusion made from this was “if only Suz could fly.”

 

With the goal of versatility play in our sights, we changed to a much shorter and sharper game in the 3rd quarter and were successfully ahead by 20+ goals. BOOM! Versatility here we come. SHS (obviously) stepped in at GA proving that not only is she a good feeder, her shooting style is quite unorthodox, yet very much effective. Janelle and Jean (JJ) joined forces to be the new attacking combo showing off some speedy balls into our shooters. Gilly Mac had a great run at WD showing that she can definitely hustle on D.

 

Final Score 65- 30 to NUNS

 

All in all, a very successful game, proving that our team is very much a versatile salada.

 

Reported by Amz ( supporter and score keeper… and timer)

 

Saturday saw the 3s stand in for the 1s to take on Whitton and gain some valuable match practice as we enter the critical part of season.

After a slightly sluggish start, going down a few goals in the opening few minutes, the team settled and began to get into their stride. And from stride they began to run. Passing was slick, defence was strong and committed all down the court and they ended the first quarter two goals to the good at 12-10.

The second and third quarters saw much of the same, the whole team working seamlessly as a unit to bring the ball down the court, from fantastic defensive interceptions, to driving mid court and precision feeding, converted safely by the shooters.

Whitton, a young and strong team, continued to keep the pressure on, with the scores level at 24-24 at half time. By the end of the third quarter, nuns had edged 2 ahead again at 37-35, with all to play for and the match hanging in the balance.

After a well fought contest, Whitton upped their game as Nuns struggled to keep pace. After a run of unanswered goals midway through the final quarter the tables appeared to have turned. Despite a late few goals and continued fight, Nuns could not catch up and the match ended 45-54 to Whitton.

A well contested game in which every player committed and played well. Good effort girls.

MOM: Jo – sharp shooting and swift-footed off-the-ball movement.

 

Team: Suz, Janelle, Jen, Gilly, Chief, Lozza, Sarah B, Soph, Amy

We arrived in Chertsey and so did the snow! As the cold was nipping at our fingers we were eager to start our warm up…and what a hell of a warm up it was, spectators had never seen a diamond like it!

We went on court ready for a solid win. For the first two minutes play was erratic as the ball was completely soaked, but as it dried we settled into the game. We played the ball well down the court and showcased some great attacking moves and feeding into the circle. Ark equally playing a solid game and, with two excellent shooters, managed to keep up with us. Q1. 15-11 NUNS.

The second quarter followed much like the first, although our spacing across court worked much better. We defended well all the way through court and kept the pressure on. Q2. 30-24 NUNS

Half time provided some time to regroup and assess how we could put some distance between us and Ark, while actually enjoying the game! A couple of changes were made and we went back on raring to go. We all seemed to step up a gear in defence this quarter and reacted well to turn overs. This allowed us to pull away to a 10 goal lead. Q3. 42-32 NUNS.

Comfortably ahead in the final quarter we continued to keep focused, while testing out some key moves from training. Gilly produced some epic dummy passes into the circle with the biggest smile you have ever seen! We pulled away again and finished the game with a comfortable win 56-43.

POM – Amy!

Jennie P

It was a morning all netballers would dread, opening the curtains to see howling winds and horizontal rain…..if only it was a home game we thought, surely the umpires will call it off we hoped! Luck it seemed was on our side today though, no sooner had we begun the trek to Cobham’s ground did the skies clear and near perfect conditions appeared – YES we cheered!
Still pumped from our win before Christmas we were raring to go and ready to add another win to our name. A win of the toss, a first centre pass, and we were off.

First quarter saw us go out with a calm and measured approach, lose our heads we did not, and through some accurate shooting from Amy and Emily we started to etch those points on the card.

With some top defending all the way down the court and set plays that Shakespeare would be proud of, we were 3 ahead, then two ahead, and after a strong 3rd quarter we were up 32-25.

Then the 4th quarter struck. We were all too aware of the dangers of becoming complacent, especially against a young and frustratingly enthusiastic team such as Cobham, so our guard was up. They’d clearly had a word with the Big Guy though as they came out with a vengeance…breaking down our play and forcing errors was clearly their motive. Bringing the score up to a draw was their aim. Scorers and timers on the side-line were going berserk! They rattled us enough to allow some unforced errors to creep in, this coupled with a slippery court creating a few footwork calls and we were looking shaky.

One minute to go, they had succeeded….or so they thought….our centre pass, we Much A Do’d About Nothing straight into our net – 1 goal up; 30 seconds left; their centre. They moved the ball into their goal third, defence were on guard, but the final whistle blew before they could score! 39-38 to us – phew!!!

Needless to say we walked away knowing we’d definitely ‘got away with it’, never again! We held our own though all the way down the court when it mattered, great team work, great shooting, great defence!

Squad: Amy, Emily, Jo, Lisa, Lou, Emma, Ali (C), Pip, Anna
MOM: Pip