Loughborough Lightning v Team Bath (Nov 06)

In their first match of the new 2006/2007 netball super league. Playing away against last years super league winners and arch rivals, all players knew that the match was never going to be easy. Lightning got off to a poor start in the first quarter and ended up playing constant catch up to Team Bath throughout the match. Although some good passes were played by Lightning, Bath were quicker and more accurate, winning the quarter 15-4.

Several substitutions were made by Rose Port in quarter two with Liv Murphy coming on as WA, O’Neill moving to C, Clarke to WD and Becky James on as GA. Lightning had a much better start developing some momentum and keeping pressure on at the attacking end of the court; the team were passing well between each other and looking to move on to the ball more aggressively. Clarke, Murphy and O’Neill were transferred the ball quickly through mid- court and once in the shooting area James and Astle used each other to generate good shooting positions. However Team Bath still had the upper hand with a good defensive performance and excellent shooting from Dunn and Greenway. Bath edged the quarter 13-11 Bath (28-15)

The third quarter was Lightning at their best, starting strong and having more possession throughout. O’Neill worked hard to generate intercepts and Lightning counter-attacked with pace. James was playing her best game at GA and her movement caused the Bath defence some problems. Excellent shooting from James and Astle enabled Loughborough to draw ahead. New substitutes Penny and Luck formed a first-class defensive team and even though Bath were still persistent they were not as effective and Lightning took the quarter 14-11. (39-29)

With only 10 goals separating the two teams the gap was recoverable going into the final 15 minutes. Lightning’s moral had lifted but Bath also came out firing and both teams had a strong start with goals flowing at each end. Liv.Murphy worked hard to create passing space for the team and intercept stray Bath passes with continued good shooting from both Astle and James. However Bath had an excellent shooting team (Dunn & Cookey), who were rarely off target, and the rest of the team was quick and accurate with the feed in to them. Consequently Team Bath edged a high scoring final quarter 17-13 and ended winners with a final score of 56-42.

The fundamental lesson to be learnt fom this game is that you cant gift the National Champions an 11 goal lead on 1st quarter and expect to win. However Lightning fought hard for three quarters and proved that Team Bath are beatable. The result also has to be seen in the con text that Bath were fielding a relatively settled team that has been together for some time whilst Lightning is a young squad trying to create some new combinations on the court.

Lightning are looking for a stronger start in their next away match against Leeds Met Carnegie on 2nd December before their first, very tough, home match against Hurricanes on Dec 9th.

Loughborough Lightning Squad

Alex Astle, Lisa Stephenson, Vicky Percy, Jade Clarke, Charlotte O’Neill, Verona Tomlin, Hannah Reid, Olivia Murphy (Capt), Sarah Penny, Natasha Hampshire, Kara Luck, Becky James

Team Bath

Billy Bowers (Capt), Tamsin Greenway, Sara Bayman, Eboni Beckford Chambers, Jo Binns, Sasha Corbin, Pamela Cookey, Rachel Dunn, Gemma Fletcher, Geva Mentor, Natalie Seaton, Monique Wood