2nds just pipped at the post by last years nemesis

The team started really strongly, quickly building a lead of a few goals, with Paige Money and Kirsty Hall shooting well over the tough XS defence. The Club centre court was showing good energy, with Shannon Murray, Debbie Greenslade and Jemma Fruin putting on a tight man to man which brought them a lot of turnover ball which the shooters were able to convert. At the defence end, Elize Ansell and Sadie Burch took a bit of time to get going but luckily the centre court were stopping a lot of the ball getting through.

The team was unchanged for the second quarter, which was a lot tougher as XS had now fully warmed up. However some super movement in attack coupled with some good interceptions and rebounds from Sadie and Elize, enabled Club to hang on to their slim lead at half time.

Emma Hall came on to WA at half time, with Grace Thomas on at C. Jemma moved to GS with Paige coming out to GA. Emma showed some lovely timing and sympathetic feeding into the shooters, with Jemma varying her movements which gave the defence something to think about. Shannon, Sadie and Elize continued to work hard but the tall XS shooters were looking settled and putting away some good shots.

At three quarter time, XS had snuck into the lead and coach Sonia Grant re-introduced Kirsty Hall at WA. Despite some strong drives into the circle from Paige Money, a lack of concentration from different players at different times meant that Club were not able to close the gap and ended up just 4 goals down at the end of the match 49-45.

This was a really good result and shows the improvement from last year, especially as there were new young players in the Club team. Mental concentration needs to be worked on to stay in the game for the full hour, but the team will certainly be looking to take the victory in the return match.