Depleted 2nd team hold on for the extra point

Help was on hand from Ellouise Edwards home from Portsmouth University and playing up from the 3rds were Jessica Clark and Denise Grant. The 2nd team were also fortunate enough to have Emma Hall on hand, who has made herself available throughout the season not only as a substitute but as amazing support to the team throughout.

The first quarter didn’t go too well - two of the players on court were battling through pain, including captain Debbie Greenslade. Kirsty Hall’s shins splints were back with a vengeance and trying to play at GA was proving tough so an early injury time was called to allow a switch of position with Jess coming out to GA and Kirsty dropping back to GS.

Not to be outdone on the injury front, Emma decided to bring a bit of gymnastics to the game with an Arabian double front into a front walkover. However, the landing was a bit off and ended up in a crash requiring first aid to a bloody knee. Finally the first quarter was over with the scores a disappointing 5 goals scored by Club to Electra's 12.

At quarter time, Emma moved to WD with Megan moving to WA to provide some extra fire power in the front court to help the shooters get ball comfortably in the circle. However, the shots just refused to go in. Kirsty’s rebounding is normally phenomenal for a tiny player with what she lacks in height and weight normally made up for in speed and spring power, however those darn shins just wouldn’t allow her to play her game!

Electra’s shooters were proving very effective. Electra were up for a game and came to win and do whatever it took to get the win, no matter how scrappy they needed to be. Their defence crowded out the circle and Club just could not gain the momentum required. Young Jess found a bit of form in this quarter but 4 goals from Club in the whole quarter is just not going to win games. The half time score was 23-9 to Electra with Club indanger of not registering a point.

Debbie was evidently also playing through the pain barrier and without the luxury of centre court subs the only option available was to swap her to WA and Megan to C for the third quarter. Kirsty began to find her range and had a five minute period of net; then she handed the baton onto Jess who had her five minutes of net; then we dropped the baton. Down the other end the shooters for Electra were having too many opportunities in the circle. Moving the ball around effortlessly, they weren’t missing much either. Elouise and Sadie Burch started to work better together and although tips were being made Club just weren’t getting the luck of the bounce and then DISASTER STRUCK!!! Sadie went up to contest a ball and came down on the oppositions foot going over on her ankle. Pain soared through her body along with shock and there was no way she was getting up to carry on and she is helped from the court by Irene and Chantal. Denise attempted to go on court to provide first aid and was ordered to go and warm up straight away, giving coach Sonia the look of a scolded puppy as she does (it's great being able to boss your big sister around!).

The game resstarted again and despite losing Sadie, Denise stepped into the breach and applied good pressure which curtailed the shots and Club only lost this quarter by 2 goals, to go into the final quarter 33-17 down.

There was no way that Club on this performance could claw back such a massive deficit in the final quarter but the team was still aiming to get two points by getting more than half Electra's score so there was still much to gain from a solid last quarter performance.

Although the tempo and performance did not rise, the performance was consistent. The team hadn’t really found themselves in this situation all season and the shock of being so far behind and their performance being so under par led to even the most stalwart of players like Megan making uncharactertistics errors.

Despite coming on cold, Denise continued to create turnovers in the circle and worked well with Ellouise to keep the shooters from running away with the score. As the game was drawing to a close, Emma provided us with further entertainment with a double back Tsukahrara into the splits! Judges scores 6.0! The medics were on hand to provide more first aid to the various blood injuries, and Emma began to look like a mummy with all the bandages around her body. Thank god the final whistle came as Club could ill afford any more injuries to this squad! The final score of 41-24 to Electra meant that Club had got their two points.

Match report by Sonia Grant