Injury overshadows Wildcats win

by Joseph Fitzpatrick

It was a mixed weekend for the Leeds Carnegie netball Superleague team. A 52-44 win on Saturday was tempered by a 63-36 loss to Hertfordshire Mavericks on Sunday.

Saturday's win meant Carnegie secured their first win since February and ensured Glasgow Wildcats remain winless. Carnegie coach Anna Carter after the game said: "I'm pleased with the win, but we had to fight for it."

And a fight it was.

In an opening quarter that wouldn't have looked amiss had it been accompanied by circus music, the home side perpetuated their 'slow-starters' image, by throwing ball after ball away. Glasgow however, failed to capitalise on Carnegie's careless play and the scores were tied eleven apiece at the first break.

The second quarter set the tone for the rest of the game. The calamitous play was toned down, and replaced by a frantic pace which frequently produced physical collisions that had the crowd wincing and the coaches dancing with exasperation. The worst of which was when Leeds WA, Fran Marshall, going for a ball, was met in mid air by a Wildcats mid court, resulting in Marshall breaking her ankle. This was a cruel case of history repeating itself for Marshall, who injured her other ankle at home against Dragons several weeks ago. The quarter was punctuated by two further injury time outs, which seemed to hand Carnegie the chance to regroup, and they responded by finally getting the ball into the circle. Despite this improvement, Wildcats were loathe to let the game and a possible first win slip away, and they battled back to ensure the second period replicated the first with both sides tallying eleven goals.

After the half, the game increased in physicality much to the disdain of Carnegie coach Anna Carter who, frustrated at already losing one player to A and E, felt the umpires were not controlling the play, afterwards she said: "I felt the umpires could have controlled the game better. For example one player was warned three times, and further contact occurred by the same player and still no action was taken.

"It took the pleasure out of the game, and probably spoiled what could have been a really good match."

Despite the physical subtext Leeds managed to acquire, a fluidity that was absent in the first half, with shooters Walker and Rachel Shaw finding their stride. This allowed Leeds to carve out an insurmountable lead which Wildcats never looked likely of jeopardising.

The game against Hertfordshire Mavericks was a marked contrast to the previous day's physicality and had a distinctly Sunday vibe about it.

A superb performance from goal shooter Louisa Brownfield saw Mavericks ease past Leeds 63-36. Brownfield terrorised the Carnegie defence who at times could only resort to laughing at their inability to stop the England shooter.

Leeds looked as if the previous day's bruising game against Wildcats had taken its toll, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Mavericks assistant coach Jo Webb, who after the game said: "I think our fitness was a big asset today, the girls managed to push through and keep the intensity up when we needed it."

Leeds' jaded state was not the reason they lost, however, as Mavericks dominated every third, and the closest Carnegie came to matching Hertfordshire was their matching purple dresses.

The first quarter was untidy with both teams gifting turnovers, the difference being that when Mavericks did hold on to possession they scored, whereas Leeds struggled to feed shooters Rachel Shaw and Joanne Walker.

At quarter time Carnegie swapped Dani Bloomfield and Natalie Panagarry from center to wing attack and vice versa in an attempt to stifle the effervescent Karen Atkinson, and for the opening five minutes it worked. Leeds were much more fluid in attack and displayed a cohesion that if they could maintain for fifteen minutes at a time would make them a very dangerous team. But, as the quarter progressed Atkinson reasserted her control of the midcourt and Brownfield continued her education of England Under 19 defender Lauren Potter, helping Hertfordshire chalk up, what to all intents and purposes, was a insurmountable 31-18 lead at the half.

Atkinson moved to wing attack in the second half and this allowed her to hurt Leeds more directly via some scintillating feeds to Brownfield who made shooting 95% look very easy. It was a different story at the other end where Mavericks goalkeeper, Layla Guscoth, employed her length to pick off several Carnegie passes.

With their lead quietly increased to 22 goals and the game effectively won Mavericks awarded Brownfield a much deserved rest and replaced her with Vicklyn Joseph for the final fifteen minutes. Leeds displayed impressive resilience despite the deficit but coach Anna Carter admits they still have a lot to learn. Mavericks were always in control and whereas it took Leeds seven or eight passes to gain entry into the circle, it rarely took the away team more than four.

Despite their dominance assistant coach Jo Webb still wants more from Mavericks, she said: "Obviously we want to be better and go harder- but it was a very good performance overall."

Carnegie coach, Anna Carter echoed Webb's sentiments of Maverick's performance, saying afterwards: "It was a better performance against Mavericks second time round. In terms of consistency we were there for four quarters, but Mavericks were very good today."

The score line was a fair reflection of a contest where one team never believed they could lose and the other never believed they could win.