Thunder burnt by Flames

25th May 2003
by Siobhan Atkinson
The listing was posted by England Netball - SuperCup - Northern Thunder

 Flames achieved a first in the Super Cup by producing back to back wins and in doing so took fifth place overall in the competition winning 51 - 44. Described by Flames coach, Denise Egan as "A game of two halves" Flames produced a storming second half to win by a clear margin of 7 goals despite having been down 9 goals at the half way stage. Thunder got off to the better start and by half time looked like they were going to record an easy win but just went off the pace in the second half. Thunder having been champions in 2002 have had a disappointing campaign this season and learnt how quick the slide from top to bottom can be.

Tracey Neville Captain of Northern Thunder could only watch from the sidelines due to an ankle injury, which prevented her from playing. Neville who needs to be fit in time for England's campaign in the World Netball Championships had played a full 60 minutes yesterday but was unable to take part today. She still played a crucial role calling key instructions to her team-mates from the sideline but at the end of the match said "I have no plans to move into coaching just yet." She was disappointed with her teams performance saying "On the day we were just not good enough." Thunder Coach Mike Greenwood echoed his Captains comments saying "We didn't play well, we surrended a nine goal lead. At crucial points in the game we gave the ball away. The pressure was on us and we didn't stand up to it."

Karen Greig played an instrumental role for the Thunder consistently shooting long shots against a tough defensive pairing of England Internationals Naomi Siddall and Beccy Douglass. Greig shouldered the responsibility well and England selectors will have been impressed by her performance. But in the second half Flames closed her down and restricted her to only 13 shots on goal compared to 25 in the first half.

Flames made several changes throughout the game and didn't run the same combination for more than 15 minutes, Egan revealed at the end of the game that it had been her intention to run the bench. Had Olivia Murphy, England Captain been fit to play in the competition the Flames may have finished in a higher position but they will have to wait until next year before seeing if they can break their deadlock of finishing in the bottom two.

Naomi Siddall made it a double delight for the Flames after she was named as the "Ted Baker Player of the Match". She received her award from National Performance Director, Waimarama Taumaunu who said "Naomi worked hard and held her team together"

Flames fought back strongly taking the final 30 minutes 32 - 16. Egan ran the bench and when the players came onto court they performed at the best. Deborah and Vicky Percy finally got some court time and the use of all 12 players in the Flames lineup proved to be a wise decision. Egan said "I put Natalie Connor onto Karen Greig in the second half as she knows her style of play well. We knew that we need to stop Karen as she was having a great influence on the game."

Naomi Siddall was delighted with her team's performance saying "As a team we have finally realised that we can win. We didn't panic during the game and worked our way back into the game. Those that came on and off during the 60 minutes did exactly what was asked of them and did it effectively." On her award she remarked "It was a total surprise, I thought I had a quiet game but it's great to win this."

Date Time Venue Competition Winners

25th May 2003 10.00am Bath University Super Cup Northern Flames

 

Northern Thunder	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter
Lesley McDonald	GS	GS	GS	GS
Karen Greig	GA	GA	GA	GA
Kathy Oldfieldr	WA	WA	WA	WA
Claudia Henison	C	C	C	C
Jade Clarke	WD	WD	WD	WD
Laura Brown	GD	GD	GD	GD
Julie Lewis	GK	GK	GK	-
Tracey Neville	-	-	-	-
Sara Bayman	-	-	-	-
Loren Taylor		-	-	-
Ruth Cockerill		-	-	GK
Catherine Cornwall	-	-	-	-

Northern Flames	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter
Lisa Stanley	GS	GA	GA	GA
Vicky Phillips	GA	-	-	-
Melissa Storey	WA	-	-	-
Vicky Percy	C	C	C	C - rep
Natalie Connor	WD	WD	GD	GD
Naomi Siddall	GD	GD	GK	GK
Beccy Douglass	GK	GK	-	-
Vicky Burgess	-	-	-	C - bench
Deborah Percy	-	WA	WA	WA
Heather Clarke	-	GS	GS	GS
Kelly Martin	-	-	WD	WD
Louisa Moore	-	-	-	-

Team	No of goals at end of quarter	Team	No of goals at end of quarter	Quarter Score
Thunder	15	Flames	9	15 - 9
Thunder	28	Flames	19	13 - 10
Thunder	38	Flames	36	10 - 17
Thunder	44	Flames	51	6 - 15

Name	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	Total shots	Percentage
Karen Greig	13/15	10/10	4/9	1/4	28/38	74%
Lesley MacDonald	2/4	3/3	6/8	5/10	16/25	64%

Name	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	Total shots	Percentage
Lisa Stanley	6/7	5/8	6/6	7/8	24/29	83%
Vicky Phillips	3/3	-	-	-	3/3	100%
Heather Clarke	-	5/8	11/12	8/12	24/32	75%

Previous Results

2001 Northern Thunder 52 Northern Flames 40

2002 Northern Thunder 48 Northern Flames 38

2003 Northern Thunder 54 Northern Flames 41

Umpires

Karen Simpson - FENA A Award

Kim Lumley - FENA A Award

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