Thunder and Lightning, and a touch of frost
Minus temperatures saw a full capacity crowd pray for a game to heat things up on Saturday evening as Northern Thunder brought a taste of the climate to their encounter against Loughborough Lightning. Northern Thunder arguably entered the match the more confident of the two teams having won both of their opening matches in Rounds 1 and 2, whilst Lightning suffered a serious defeat to Surrey Storm last week. Coach Tracey Neville was delighted at the result and the promising performance from her side, “If we start a game like we did today, and finish a game like we did today, there’s a lot of positives building into the next few weeks”.
Thunder wasted no time and established a substantial lead, the score within eight minutes being 8-0. It was this initial lead that Lightning Coach Olivia Murphy believed proved to be crucial to the end result, “the score escalated too far, we were never in the game after the first 10 minutes”. Thunder were by far the superior team in every third of the court. Karen Grieg appeared unstoppable from the offset and alongside attacking partner Janelle Lawson, they fused perfectly with the feeds from both the wing attack and centre. Their stylized, yet varied passing was notches above those of their counterparts.
Thunder had height and experience in their favour and obtained a large majority of the rebounds. Despite outbreaks of high speed from Lightning, the final ball into the circle was an almost impossible task, as the defensive duo of Emma Dovey and Kerry Almond completely marked the Lightning attack out of the game. Becky James finally found herself in the circle for Lightning in the closing minutes of the first quarter, but there was much more that needed to be done, especially if they were going to restrict Thunder for the rest of the game.
As the second quarter began, the game was arguably as bleak as the weather with the only reminder that Lightning were still playing being the occasional applause from the sell out crowd. Thunder took a 23-9 lead half way into the second quarter and the game looked set to be finished by half time. However, the second half of the second quarter was arguably their finest play all game and Lightning marginally won the quarter 12-10. The addition of Olivia Mason to GA, and James dropping back to GS created opportunities for balls to be fed into the circle as James held her strength and penalties were awarded against Almond in James' favour.
Both teams underwent vast transformations at half time and the beginning of the third quarter was the loudest it had been all game. Greig was substituted and young Kathryn Turner was brought on as GA, Turner’s work with the attacking players was commendable, but in particular she should be praised for her 100% shooting statistics. It was Thunder who stole the show from Lightning and the win appeared in the bag early on in the third quarter. Their play was spectacular as balls were executed with such precision and movement down court, it was faultless. Lightning weren’t short of movement, but a destination is what the players appeared to lack.
Thunder’s first phase, tight defending down court forced copious errors in the centre court, causing turnovers and tips that they raced to goal. A late surge from Lightning indicated that they potentially turned up late for a home match, as the crowd continued to cheer loudly despite the significant difference in the score line. Murphy reinforced how the teamwork and cohesion is something that needs to be worked on in order for progression to be made.
Coach Neville was pleased at the performance in the closing quarter as the younger members of the team were in full supply “We were able to finish with our babies at the end, and that’s the future of Northern Thunder, and I thought they came on and performed really well so that was exciting as well”.
Thunder’s triumph now see’s them as joint leaders in the FNSL with Surrey Storm, having been the only two sides to be undefeated in their first three encounters of the season.
Match Report courtesy of Elka de Carteret, on behalf of England Netball
Northern Thunder:
GS - Karen Greig, GA - Janelle Lawson, WA - Rachel Henry, C - Laura Malcom, WD - Sara Bayman, GD - Emma Dovey, GK - Kerry Ann Almond. Bench: Beth Cordon, Kathryn Turner, Krista Enziano, Maria McAndrew, Eleanor Caldwell
Shooting Statistics:
Karen Greig: 71%
Janelle Lawson: 79%
Kathryn Turner 100%
Krista Enziano 94%
Loughborough Lightning:
GS - Lianne Badmin, GA - Becky James, WA - Michaella McFarlane, C - Lucy Adams, WD - Jenny Montgomery, GD - Nicola Caunt, GK - Jades Forbes-Wattley. Bench: Olivia Mason, Jordan Moxley, Alex Sinclair, Jodie Gibson, Lauren Steadman
Shooting Statistics:
Lianne Badmin: 33%
Becky James 86%
Olivia Mason 61%
Michaela McFarlane 33%