NORTHERN THUNDER 66 – 36 Celtic Dragons

Snow may have been covering the ground in Bury, and that may have kept some fans at home, but inside the Castle Leisure Centre the temperature was up for this Co-operative Netball Superleague encounter.  It turned out to be an old fashioned battle of wills contested from the top to the bottom of the court.

Thunder went into the game fired up looking for their first win of the season and to put their first points on the board, Celtic after a slow start needed to come out breathing fire in this their third match of the season, but it was the home side that stole a march and made the most of a scrappy first quarter to take a seven-goal lead.

The second quarter saw both teams struggle to find their flow and at half-time Thunder still only led by seven after drawing the quarter 14-14. Thunder’s coach Mike Greenwood made changes bringing on Charlie Beenham to Goal Attack and Helen Browne to Wing Attack. Browne injecting some much needed pace to the Thunder attack.

Unforced errors did not help the Welsh side in the third quarter but it was the dominance of Thunder’s centre court that really made the difference in this match.  In the third quarter a swap of positions and Sara Bayman moved to WD with Jade Clarke going to C and the Dragons had no answer and little possession, squandering some of what they had by giving away penalty passes.  The England pair a classy act whose versatility is proving an effective weapon for coach Mike Greenwood. 

Damage done in that quarter Thunder consolidated their position in the last 15 minutes to record their first win of the season.  After the Northern Thunder captain Karen Greig reflected on a job well done, “Celtic Dragons came out determined especially in the first half. There was very tight man-to-man marking and it disrupted our flow.”  She paid tribute to the way her players stepped up  “We dug deep in a bid to put a big margin between us and the Dragons and with consistency and a drop in error rate I am proud we won by 30.”

It is clear that the Dragons’ are building a promising Superleague and National side and newly-18 Emma Thomas is a superb example of the talent in the squad – rarely can a shooter boast a 100% hit rate, but she did not miss in the match. If the Celtic Dragons can feed the 5’9” teenager more ball surely they will find the winning formula that is eluding them.

Thunder now go into the Christmas break with a win under their belts and look forward to the home double-header in January facing the Glasgow Wildcats on Friday the 8th  at 7.30pm and Loughborough Lightning on Sunday the 10th at 3pm.

Thunder NTL will also play Lightning NTL  before this game. TICKETS

THUNDER SLAY DRAGONS

SHOOTING STATISTICS

THUNDER SHOOT: 66 FROM 84 = 79%

GREIG:47 FROM 56=84%

TURNER:12 FROM 15=80%
BEENHAM 7 FROM 13 = 54%

DRAGONS SHOOT: 36 FROM 49= 73%

THOMAS 15 FROM 15 100%

MOSELEY 17 FROM 29 = 59%

NEATE 4 FROM 9 = 44%