Team Bath vs Team Northumbria

Match: Team Bath versus Team Northumbria

Venue: Sports Training Village, University of Bath

Time:  1800 (delayed start 1830).

Umpires: Judith Groves and Jo Kelly, with Kylie Woodhead as 3rd official

Quarter scores: 

Q1: 10-10

Q2: 24-22

Q3: 45-37

Q4: 60-52

FULL TIME: 60-52

REPORT:

Snow in the early part of February forced the postponement of this Co-operative Netball Superleague match.  For both sides it meant two matches in two days but Team Northumbria also had the added burden of a late finish on Saturday night against Mavericks before jumping on a plane to Bristol on Sunday.

Delays to the flight meant the game was held back for half an hour to give the visitors enough time to prepare for the game but when Team Northumbria's starting seven came on the court they proved more than up for the game.  Bath's players could have enjoyed a lie-in and leisurely Sunday lunch as they were playing at home but while they started with their usual gustothe visitors were more than able to match them in the first 15 minutes .  A superb shooting performance from Northumbria's attack force was carried into the second quarter Carla Dziwoki played a captain’s role leading the way from pass to post missing just once in the first quarter.

Few sides have held the league leaders by two goals at the half-time break which is possibly why Bath coach Jess Garland shuffled her attack bringing together the familiar pairing of Dunn and Cookey to bring more balls into the attack brining more shots and more goals; by the end of the 3rd quarter Bath had pulled into an 8 goal lead. 

Maybe the only team in the co-operative Netball Superleague felt the cushion was big enough to experiment, Pamela Cookey came out to WA as part of changes that ensured the entire squad had a runout.  By the end of the match Team Northumbria’s squad had also all played some part in an excellent performance that must have been something of a morale booster. Captain Carla Dziwoki was inspirational as the statistics back up; Team Northumbria had a total of 63 shots at goal - the skipper was responsible for 52 of those and she only missed 6, Carla’s been called up for ANZ and is off to play with Queensland Firebirds and takes the best wishes of the Superleague with her.

Kirsty Delve was finally back in a bib for Team Bath and in fine form after a long period of injury and illness. Bath coach Jess Garland thought “It was a very a very challenging game which is what we needed going into the play-offs. It was important that the full squad experienced this. It was good to see Kirsty Delve back on court in her first Superleague appearance since October and players to mention include Stacie Francis who rounded off a really consistent weekend following a good game yesterday and earning more turn overs tonight. It was pleasing to see and untried combination Rachel Dunn at goal-attack, Kirsty at goal-shooter and Pamela at wing-attack.”

Seven other sides have been to Bath this season all have lost but only Loughborough Lightning have come closer than Team Northumbria to overturning the undefeated leaders who have one more game to go in their bid to go through the season unbeaten.

STARTING LINEUP:

GS: Pamela Cookey

GA: Monique Wood

WA: Sasha Corbin 

C:  Serena Guthrie

WD: Sara Bayman

GD: Gemma Fletcher

GK: Eboni Beckford-Chambers

Shooting stats

Rachel Dunn 22/25 = 88%

Pamela Cookey  20/22 = 91%

Monique Wood  9/15    = 60%

Kirsty Delve 8/14    = 57%