Leicestershire’s Grasshoppers took on Lincolnshire’s Brigg in this weekend’s East Midlands Netball Regional League Division 2 game.
Brigg had the first centre pass and through some strong play, turned over a couple of Grasshoppers' centre passes early on. The Leicestershire team were struggling to find any rhythm and they missed several important goal attempts. At the end of the first quarter, Brigg led 12-9. Lincoln City were hoping to continue their winning ways as they prepared to face Derbyshire, Iceni on Sunday 6th August. Iceni have been tough opponents in the past and with three Lincoln players unavailable, it could have gone either way.
There were two changes to the side that thrashed TFC Too last week, with Anna Gilbert and Becky Baker making up the GS and GA partnership and Jade Houlton starting alongside Lucy Heathershaw in defence. Although Iceni started well, Lincoln were able to capitalise on the away team’s errors. This, coupled with a strong shooting combination and excellent support from Beth Richardson, allowed Lincoln to end the first quarter with an eight goal lead (17-9). Following their defeat against Nottingham City Aces, Falcons Yellow notch up their first win against Leapoole in another tough battle.
The away team welcomed back Tamsin Mason and Alex Wood-Davis, who first played for the club when she was 16 years old. Falcons Yellow took time to gel during the first quarter but worked hard and went in at the break drawing on 11 goals each.
Iceni produced a good, all-round performance in their first game of the East Midlands Netball Regional League Division 2 season. Both great shooting and strong defence were on display but it was not enough to beat the newly-qualified Regional League team, Southgate, who won the game by 50 goals to 23.
Despite Iceni doing well in the first quarter, Southgate picked up the pace in the second and third quarters, demonstrating that they are on track to have a very good season. Iceni did manage to claw back the score line a little bit in the last quarter but in the end it was not enough. laina Richardson, who had a strong game in centre court, was nominated as Iceni’s ‘Player of the Match’. Leapoole Storm kicked off their first East Midlands Netball Regional League Division 1 game with an outstanding win over Charnwood Sapphires.
Leapoole’s passing was slick and smooth and their movement across the court was dynamic. Ailis Hunter and Kate Fairhurst produced a number of tips, interceptions and rebounds in defence which made life difficult for Charnwood shooters, whilst Leonie Smikle snuck in when she was least expected to, getting fantastic interceptions and causing disruption amongst Charnwood’s attack. Sarah Thomas worked hard at Centre to create space throughout the court and provided key feeds into the circle, despite a heavy fall on court. Meanwhile, Catherine Holding continued to fight hard for every loose ball and opened up the play through her quick and dynamic dodging. The shooting skills of Katie Clay, Rebecca Taylor and Jo M Nock were exemplary, hitting nothing but the net on most occasions, despite the best efforts of the Charnwood defence. It was a great team performance by Leapoole who won the game 71-28. Falcons Yellow returned to the East Midlands Regional League Division I with a tough match against a very slick and well-oiled Nottingham City Aces.
There was a new face added to the Falcons Yellow squad in Emma Davis, which coincided with the return of Connie Xavier and Keri Moorhouse, after a year’s absence. The team line up was XAVIER (GS), MOORHOUSE (GA), Rebecca SIMMS (WA), Melanie BRENAN (C), JO HOLT (WD), Samantha Brown (GD), Liz STEPHENSON (GK), Emma DAVIS (SUB).
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