Northumbria Keep Dragons At Bay
15 March 2010
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Team Northumbria have not been playing to the level that coach Barbara Brown would like to see so far this season, but there was a glimpse of what the squad is capable of, in Saturday afternoon’s Co-operative Netball Superleague win over Celtic Dragons.
Having been given a thorough work out earlier in the week by Northern Thunder the Dragons were probably keen to get back into a winning mentality but it was Northumbria who got cracking early on.
Emma Lower made a great start in the circle getting her team into an eight goal lead by quarter-time. The home side were finding it a physical contest against the strong Welsh players but stuck to their game plan in the early exchanges.
Defensively Northumbria were able to show their progress from training although little errors were creeping into their performance.
That was due in part to the vigourous efforts of the Dragons who were missing shooter Emma Thomas from the line-up as she turned out for England U19s at Netball Europe. Their accuracy improved from the first quarter but not enough to edge in front.
It has been a tough season for Team Northumbria with swine flu, injuries and college commitments disrupting the smooth running of the squad. Now they will have to do without the talent of Alex Wood, for nine months at least as she prepares for the arrival of a new member of the team.
Eleven goals ahead is a healthy lead and despite Celtic Dragons launching a renewed assault in the third quarter, pulling back to within six goals, the home side steadied and held the line. Alex Wood may find herself being roped in for team talks in the coming weeks.
A determined mind-set saw Northumbria through to the final whistle to bag a hard won 2 points, to lift them back above Glasgow Wildcat, who had leapt to sixth in the table with a win over Loughborough earlier in the day.
Northumbria’s head coach Barbara Brown had plenty of ideas of what to work on next but what content with the win "I knew it had to come, I think we were better than they were."
"We were more determined in the end and a few things need ironing out as with smaller shooters the rest of the team shall have to all be on song."
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