Thunder go down to Blaze, losing chance to defend title

Blaze were the first to open their scoring account doing so through England international Alex Astle. Blaze's coaches Colette Thomson and Maggie Jackson opted to field an experienced line up against Thunder but left Ama Agbeze on the sidelines. Thunder also made changes to their line up choosing for the first time in this year's competition to start Neville on the wing with Greig and Scottish international Lesley MacDonald combining in the shooting circle. Jade Clarke started at C, leaving an inexperienced combination in the Thunder defence of Cockerill, Brown and Lewis. However they coped well with Astle and Lincoln and showed some maturity in their play but not enough to overcome the Blaze

Blaze were quick to stomp their authority onto the game and stuck to their game plan. Careful with their possession they displayed patience in working the ball into attack and with their tight defence made their turnovers count as well. By the end of the first quarter Blaze had established a six goal lead 18 - 12 through some close marking by Siddall at WD for the Blaze against Neville of Thunder. Siddall applied a lot of pressure onto the England international marking tightly making it difficult to feed into the circle.

Greenwood made changes at quarter time bringing on young defender Sara Bayman replacing Ruth Cockerill who had started the game with a heavy strapping around her knee.

Karen Aspinall at C for the Blaze posted her most consistent performance of the tournament so far. She worked hard for 60 minutes and her error rate was minimal serving both Lincoln at GA and Astle at GS with some perfect feeds.

As the game progressed Blaze, riding on being in the lead continued to pile on the pressure and Thunder simply couldn't respond. Lacking a sparkle in their attack they failed to create the number of shooting opportunities needed to win a match. After 45 minutes Thunder found themselves 13 goals adrift 48- 35.

With Greig looking tired at GA, Greenwood made changes to his side going into the final quarter. Neville took up the responsibility of GA and Loren Taylor filled her position at WA. Claudia Henison came on a C and Jade Clarke moved back to WD to add some depth to the defence. However the changes did not have the desired effect with Thunder going down by the biggest margin of the four quarters 15 -7.

Thunder face Team Bath Force in Bath next weekend in a crucial game for both teams. If Thunder lose they will face Northern Flames in the 5^th / 6^th place play off, a position they will not want to find themselves in. They will however have the difficult task of taking on Team Bath on their home ground in front of a packed audience.

Previous Results

2001 Birmingham University Blaze 64 Northern Thunder 45

2002 Birmingham University Blaze 53 Northern Thunder 44

2002. 1^st / 2^nd place play off

Umpires