Lightning vs Celtic Dragons - Jan06

Loughborough Lightning 62 – 34 Celtic Dragons

Saturday 10 December 2005, Loughborough University Netball Centre

‘Winning streak continues for Lightning’

Loughborough Lightning posted a dominant performance over Celtic Dragons to maintain their third place position in the Netball Superleague after the fifth round of matches. Coach Rosie Port started with slightly altered centre court line up due to the absence of injured captain Olivia Murphy, with Jade Clarke moving to Centre and Charlotte O’Neill with her first start of the season at WD.

Throughout the first half, Lightning worked hard to capitalise on numerous turnovers from Lightning’s eventual player of the match, Ama Agbeze at GK. The difference in quality of the two teams was evident from the pace with which Lightning switched the ball from player to player and although the Dragons did make some good turnovers in the defending circle, Lightning remained in control throughout the match.

Alex Astle at GS also posted an exceptional performance, scoring 44 goals out of 49 attempts. At half time, Port introduced Jo Munnion at GD and Vicky Percy at WA, moved Atkinson to C and returned Jade Clarke to her usual WD. This combination continued to cause the Dragons problems in attack and used a variety of feeds into the circle to make life difficult for the Dragons.

The final quarter saw changes in both the shooting and defending circles with Becky James at GS and Sarah Penny at GK, who both worked hard along with the rest of the team to maintain pressure on the Dragons who had moved the very tall Jamilla Abbott to GS in an attempt to give greater presence in the shooting circle.

In a comfortable and confident win, Coach Rosie Port’s only grumble could be a slightly higher unforced error rate than we have come to expect from Lightning, and with the next match against Northern Thunder only 6 days away, Port will be keen to iron out any niggles in training.