Newcastle-under-Lyme College Netball Triumph again!!

Unbeaten at home, what has been a fantastic season came to its conclusion in style with the last league match versus Cirencester on 30^th April.  A win would secure the NUL squad top spot in the BCS West Midlands 1^st Division for the first time since 2010/11?

Going into the Cirencester match, Hereford had temporarily pushed NUL off the top spot but, with a goal average better than theirs already, all we had to do was win - even if only by 1 goal!

Having convincingly won the game against Cirencester before Christmas we were confident but at the same time nervous.  After all, this was an away match, at an unknown venue, following a journey of 2.5 hours, against a team (Cirencester) who were finishing mid table and had nothing to lose.  Also with only 7 players from our 11-strong squad available, there were no substitutes to provide ‘fresh legs’ or cover possible injuries should it prove necessary.

Netball coaches, Carolyn Owen and Ami Pickerill, asked the players to go out hard from the start of the game to ensure a strong lead at the end of the first quarter, to concentrate on making the right decisions and to maintain their passing accuracy.

NUL won the first quarter by 8, the second quarter by 5 and the third by 7. This cushion of 20 goals gave us options to move players around and, despite drawing the last quarter 11 all, we won the game 53 v 33 maintaining the 20 goal margin and improving our goal difference and average even further.

Jess Barnes and Liv Stevenson maintained a high level of shooting accuracy with an average of around 70% throughout the match.  Centre court players Becky Hall, Molly Line and Charlotte Thompson provided attacking opportunities by adding pressure on their opponents to delay their play and force errors. Defenders Dom Ford-Gordon and Jas Darlington dominated the defensive third, creating turnovers by gaining possession through interceptions and rebounds. 

The best quote of the game came from Jas when, having been amazed by Jess Barnes’ manoeuvre in order to shoot closer to the post, saw the Cirencester Goal Shooter execute a similar move and loudly exclaimed “she’s just done a Jess!”.  Moments later, in an attempt to intercept, Dom at full speed could not stop herself from piggy-backing the Goal Attack – oh, for a camera J

To finish top of Division 1 is a great achievement and to do so with a squad of mainly first year students bodes well for next season.