Team Bath v Loughborough Lightning - Oct 05

‘Lightning edged out in opening game thriller’

Team Bath’s home supporters could have been forgiven for thinking their team was to mark their Netball Super League debut with a colossal defeat as Loughborough Lightning and England’s centre court combination of Murphy, Atkinson and Clarke combined impressively to power them 10 – 1 ahead in the opening minutes. GA Agbeze and GS Astle converted attacking opportunities with relative ease, with Lightning finishing the first quarter 16 – 9 in front.

Lightning continued to set the tempo in the second quarter, with the defensive pairing of Munnion and Reid working hard to contain the Bath and England shooters Cookey and Dunn. Some more consistent play from Bath kept them in touch, although Lightning were still relatively in command with half time scores finishing 29 – 22 to Lightning.

Lightning coach Rosie Port rang the changes at half time bringing on Brown at GD and Penny at GK, however Bath’s shooters had finally found their range and some more cohesive work from their new centre court combination and squandered chances from Lightning allowed Bath to take a 38 – 36 lead at ¾ time.

The final quarter saw Bath’s defence make some vital interceptions, which gave them control of the game in the closing stages. Illness and injury forced Port to replace the shooting combination of Astle and Agbeze with Stephenson and James. Both made confident debuts, however Bath were in their stride and despite the reintroduced Munnion at GD and Penny at GK hassling hard, the home side ran out 47 – 44 winners.

A disappointing start to Lightning’s season will mean Port’s side will no doubt be working hard in training to ensure that their impending fixture against Team Northumbria at 5pm on Saturday 29th October at Loughborough University’s Netball Centre will give them the win they so desperately crave.

TeamBath: GS: Rachel Dunn, GA: Pamela Cookey; WA: Tamsin Greenway; C Sonyan Crowe; WD: Clare Elsley; GD: Billy Bowers; GK: Geva Mentor

Substitutes: Second quarter: Elsley to C, Modeste to WD. Final quarter: Asha Tett for Pamela Cookey at GA, Jess Garland for Clare Elsley at C.

Loughborough: GS: Alex Astle; GA: Ama Agbeze; WA: Karen Atkinson; C: Olivia Murphy; WD: Jade Clarke; GD: Jo Munnion; GK: Hannah Reid

Substitutes: Lisa Stephenson and Sarah Penny.

Quarter scores: Home Team first: 9–16, 13–12, 16–8, 9–8

Umpires: Bill Alexander / Kylie Woodhead