Leeds fail to shock Lightning

 by Joseph Fitzpatrick

It has by all accounts been a disappointing Superleague season for the Leeds Carnegie girls, poor finances have robbed them of staging home games in front of the Sky Sports cameras, and injuries have robbed them off crucial players- not to mention the mounting defeats.

In a game that should have been played on Yorkshire soil- the lighting at Leeds Metropolitan is inadequate for T.V coverage therefore the fixture was reversed to Leicestershire- Carnegie succumbed to their seventh loss of the season at the hands of Loughborough Lightning, losing 60-45.

Leeds were bolstered by the return of Joanne Walker, but despite the return of the goal shooter they started in typical careless fashion, and found themselves trailing by five goals at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter brought no respite for Carnegie, and their porous defence was accompanied by an impotent attack, which allowed Loughborough to increase their lead to 33-24 at the half.

The second half was much the same story- however Leeds did manage to match Loughborough in the fourth quarter, tying on eleven goals apiece.

After the game Carnegie co-coach Lisa Ferneyhough touched on what is required of her team in Saturday's meeting with the winless Glasgow Wildcats, she said: "We need to keep bringing consistency to the game but we have to address our error-rate and expand our short ball options."