Thunder Beat Mavericks To Third

Third place in the regular season of the Co-operative Netball Superleague was up for grabs at the Hertfordshire Sports Village; Northern Thunder taking on Hertfordshire Mavericks.

As revealed in the latest edition of The Netball Pod, Northern Thunder skipper Karen Grieg was struggling to be fit for this crunch game and the hand injury meant she started on the bench.

Mavericks shooter Louisa Brownfield continues her recovery from arm surgery. More of a surprise was the absence of Karen Atkinson in the match-day twelve taking her place on the management bench.

Thunder took advantage of an early turnover after having first centre to go into a 3-1 lead, but Mavericks picked up the pace and got back on terms with 11 minutes played.    

Thunder pinned down the home sides mid-court leaving them few options for passing and by shutting down the first choice route were able to close out the quarter 14-10.

Quarter two and a renewed sense of purpose for Mavericks saw three goals fly in before a time out to treat Rose Morgan-Smith slowed their momentum.

Thunder made their Bayman-Clarke switch at the break with the players swapping bibs, and it took a few moments of adjustment before normal service was resumed.

And it was a cracking quarter of netball with battle was resumed with fervour, Clark versus Almond, Morgan-Smith against Clarke Wilson versus Stenhouse - action and interceptions in all thirds of the court.With both defensive outfits playing well, the ball had to be hard won in the interceptions and tips. But Thunder did best and extended their lead. It was 21-27 at half-time.

Thunder upped the pace in the third quarter, where the ball was failing to drop right for the home side. The ball was travelling well though the court for Thunder who were rewarded with an ever alert Anastascia Wilson in the circle.

She took high passes, roll passes, fast passes, low passes, bad passes and plenty of good ones to boot.  Charley Beenham was having a good match too and and between them the girls were rolling Thunder into an impressive match winning lead, twenty goals up going into the last 15 minutes is a comfortable cushion for most teams.

And it was another strong showing in the final quarter by the visitors who swapped Krystal Gayle on for Rachel Henry at WA. Unforced errors did start creeping into the match on Thunder’s side but Mavericks also stepped up the work rate - which sort of cancelled out on both sides. 

A big win for Thunder against a Mavericks side hit hard by injury.  Sophia Candappa is recovering from midweek surgery on her elbow, dislocated in the Mavericks game against England last Tuesday. 

Naida Hutchinson celebrated her birthday today by coming out of hospital after knee surgery but at least Louisa Brownfield was able to watch the game - and take a few shots at goal as the side cooled down.

By Lisa O’Sullivan