TV battle between Mavericks and Northern Thunder in the Fiat Netball Super League
It’s time for another battle over TV remote control as on Thursday evening, true netball fans will not want to miss Hertfordshire Mavericks’ hard fought win over Northern Thunder in the FIAT Netball Superleague.
This game see-sawed all the way through Mavericks went 3-goals ahead, then Thunder pulled in front by two. In the second quarter Thunder were 10-up at one point, but the third period saw them only shoot eight times and net six, Mavericks grabbed 16.In the end Mavericks retained top spot in the table by wining the match by four.
Maggie Jackson, head coach of Hertfordshire Mavericks was rightly proud at the final whistle: “From a coaching point of view I had to really dig deep for that and all credit to Northern Thunder - it was a really good competitive game for everybody; it was a great game out there on the court, great for spectators and great from my angle.”
And it was one of those games where a couple of coach decisions made all the difference, Maggie’s choices worked. Both teams took a while to adjust to the match in the first 15 minutes, Thunder were two ahead at the break and the Mavericks boss swapped Camilla Buchanan - who missed Friday’s game through injury - for Georgia Schmidt who went on to play one of her best-ever games for Mavericks.
The Aussie was buzzing around the court, zipping in for interceptions and flipping them back up court. But in the second quarter Thunder boomed ahead and at the risk of repeating myself (week on week) but Thunder’s mid-court - yes Sara Bayman especially - were outstanding forcing errors before ensuring the ball was swiftly dispatched back down the court. When Thunder were 10-ahead Mavericks goal keeper Lindsay Keable went down injured and Hazel Schofield came on at GD - Guscoth moving to GK.
It all went wrong in the third quarter for the visitors - Mike Greenwood made a switch that’s been working pretty well this season so far, bringing the mighty presence of Lynsey Armitage on at goal- shooter with Karen Greig moving out to goal-attack. It simply didn’t work, Armitage was persistently penalised for contact against the excellent Layla Guscoth (Player of the Match) and when a medical time- out was called Charley Beenham was restored and Greig returned to the circle. The boss himself admitted in retrospect it maybe wasn’t needed: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I don't think I should have done it , but you know we've got players going away and I have to give the players that are here some exposure, some experience and they’re not going to get that sat on the bench”
Not long after this there as another hammer blow for Thunder when skipper Karen Greig fell awkwardly and had to leave the court in place of Lynsey Armitage. “It’s my good knee as well,” she said after the game. “I just lunged for the ball and as I went to come round, I twisted on it and my knee caved in under me. I heard something to go I'm crossing my fingers it's nothing too bad.”
Mavericks knew they had the upper hand and made the most of their chances, Louisa Brownfield was banging in the goals - she only missed once all game - and the home-side were back in the game.
Northern Thunder’s Mike Greenwood admitted after the game “ I don't think we did ourselves justice, but saying that Maggie’s team are very good.
“We had a bit of a bad luck with Karen but it's not all about one player and we lost a bit of composure.”
And the last word goes to Maggie Jackson: “I actually have been thinking that I've got a really good bench, a really good squad this season. They’re very young, a lot of them very inexperienced but my god they are willing to step up.”
