Fiat Netball Superleague-Team Northumbria 44-32 Surrey Storm
Team Northumbria are celebrating a massive step forward in their development by beating Surrey Storm by 12 goals in round 15 of the FIAT Netball Superleague to the delight of head coach Tracey Neville.
With many of the Superleague star names on duty with England in Jamaica Neville noted that this weekend has been a great leveller, “now the other Superleague sides know how it feels to compete at this level without international players.”
On the day Northumbria were the better side in a match they started well and kept on improving on as the minutes ticked by. Surrey Storm were severely weakened in attack without top-shot Rachel Dunn and captain Tamsin Greenaway, the shooting statistics back up the obvious lack of forward momentum - 32 goals, Dunn usually nets that many for a warm up!
A lack of goals in the early part of the season hampered the home-side’s push up the league but they have made significant progress and the presence of Jatjinda Kambatuku (Toetsi to her team-mates) under the post has brought stability and confidence to Team Northumbria, today in the second quarter they recorded a 100% success rate.
There was a blip in the third quarter but Storm were also affected by it and did not cash in on a chance to haul back goals. But it was the final 15 minutes that brought most pleasure to the coach. “For the first time ever the girls were able to take the game away in the fourth quarter,” said Neville, “they have never had the confidence to do that before and it’s a great feeling to have.
“We were the better team on the day and we had good structure up and down the court. We were able to put Storm under pressure and convert our turn-over ball.”
