Member NewsEngland Netball - SuperCup 2003 - Birmingham University BlazeBlaze lose out again to Tornadoes17th May 2003By Siobhan Atkinson
Birmingham Blaze once again failed to overcome the one side in the Super Cup they have yet to beat. Despite being on home ground the Blaze went down 36 - 55. Coach Colette Thomson said "We weren't good enough on the day. At times we made them work but we just didn't make the most of some of our chances." Tornadoes shooting ace Lynsey Armitage once again got her side off to a good start sinking her first attempt. She went on to convert 42 of her 51 attempts on goal in the game giving an average of 82%. The scoreline did not reflect the closeness of the game at times. The Tornadoes attack lacked pace with only Fiona Murtagh providing speedy movement and the Blaze defence were unlucky not to have the umpires acknowledge that the Tornadoes were close to three seconds on a number of occasions. At quarter time the scoreline was in Tornadoes favour but was not beyond the reach of the Blaze who were only down by 6 goals 9 - 15. Coaches' Colette Thomson and Maggie Jackson provided good coaching instructions to their team at the quarter time break and introduced Paula Smith at WA replacing Lisa Stephenson. Smith's introduction immediately improved the movement of the ball in the Blaze attack and Agbeze put herself around the court and turned the ball over twice for the Blaze. However her quality court movement was not reflected in her shooting ability, having an off day she only converted 9 of her 19 attempts on goal and during the third quarter she was replaced with Helene Lincoln. Fiona Murtagh admitted at the end of the game that it was a scrappy affair between the two sides. "We were better in the second quarter when we found some rhythm and we had established a lead but we have a lot to work on still. It seems like we had no drive for the ball today, at times it seemed we didn't want it." She added "We are fortunate that they made as many mistakes as they did."Blaze have lost all previous three encounters with the Tornadoes including losing to them in the 2001 final. Tornadoes’ victory virtually secured them a place in the 2003 final where they will be keen to regain the title they lost last year after finishing fourth in a disappointing campaign. Blaze will however not be in the final and will hope they can take enough points from their remaining games to have a crack at third place. Alex Astle, Captain of the Blaze said "We are very disappointed, we could have played better and capitalised on our possession more. But they were the better team on the day and benefited from their experience."Blaze made too many simple errors throughout the game from misfeeding the circle, which is surprising, when you consider Astle, Agbeze and Aspinall all line up for England together and play for Derbyshire. Breaking the line at a centre passes also seemed to be a problem for the Blaze causing them to lose possession before they had even released the centre pass. Tornadoes will face Northern Flames in their game tomorrow while Blaze take on Northern Thunder the side who defeated them in the final last year. Blaze are keen to exact revenge with Captain Astle saying "It will be a different game, Thunder have a different style to the Tornadoes. We are looking forward to the match which will be a fast, clean game."Super Cup Competition 2003 Date Time Venue Competition Winners 17th May 2003 4.00pm Aston Villa Leisure Centre Super Cup
Previous Results 2001 Birmingham University Blaze 42 Petchey London Tornadoes 49
Birmingham University Blaze 46 Petchey London Tornadoes 47 2002 Birmingham University Blaze 51 Petchey London Tornadoes 52 Umpires
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