Having suffered a crushing away reverse to Cumberland in their last outing, Jersey’s élite netballers were hoping to respond in style and, at the same time, give the home crowd something to smile about.
It wasn’t to be, however, as Dudley Leisure produced a dominant display to secure the 51-37 triumph and dent Jets’ hopes of qualifying for the promotion play-offs.
| P | W | D | L | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent County | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1.34 | 59 |
| Ryland | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 1.16 | 51 |
| Team Jets | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1.04 | 47 |
| Norfolk United | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1.09 | 46 |
| Cumberland | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0.98 | 44 |
| Dudley Leisure | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 1.02 | 41 |
| Linden | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 1.00 | 38 |
| Falcons Black | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 0.83 | 30 |
| Sussex Thunder* | 13 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0.94 | 28 |
| Loughborough TFC | 13 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0.7 | 15 |
*Deducted 2 pts
Speaking immediately after the final whistle, coach Linda Andrews struggled to put her finger on exactly what went wrong.
‘We played well in patches but some of the time I felt we were laboured and we were second to the ball,’ she explained.
‘Normally we’re able to dictate some areas of the play but I think we struggled today.
‘Maybe it’s just one of those games. I need to analyse the video but they were first to the ball, they were more drilled in the way they were moving and we were just chasing the game.’
In truth, the damage was done in the first half as Dudley – who’d been beaten by Jets at home in October – came out flying.
Whereas the visitors looked sharp in possession, Jets’ demeanour appeared uncharacteristically lacklustre. Of course, any team can only play as well as they are allowed, so Dudley deserve credit for the way they harried the Jersey girls in possession and defended their circle with resolve.
Team Jets: 37/50 74.00%
Dudley: 51/70 72.86%
Jets’ breakdown
Sophie Holmes: 23/27 85.19%
Lynsey Pitman: 14/23 60.87%
Jets, usually known for their fluid and swift attacking play, struggled to create goal-scoring chances for their shooters in the opening quarter. In stark contrast, the power and height of Dudley shooter Rebecca Tidesley – who trains with Superleague franchise Loughborough Lightning and is due to attend England under-21 trials next month – caused problems for goalkeeper Josie Le Masurier at the other end.
While neither Tidelsey nor her shooting partner were notably clinical in front of goal, the pair still managed to eke out a 16-8 advantage for their side by quarter time.
The visitors continued to impress in the second period and by half-time they’d manufactured a 13-goal lead.
Having moved captain and recently crowned CI Sports Personality of the Year for 2014 Lauren Devine to goalkeeper just before the half-time break, Andrews brought on youngster Ebony Troy at goal defence, while Lynsey Pitman and Sophie Holmes switched in the shooting positions.
The tactical changes appeared to work as the hosts were far more competitive in the second half, however it was too little too late as Dudley closed out a deserved win.
Andrews continued: ‘Their shooter caused us a lot of problems but then Lauren marked her very well when she dropped to keeper. In that respect, we did learn something there – but she’s quite formidable.
‘The girls were fired up to start the game well but it just didn’t quite happen. They never gave up and kept on playing which is what you want but we weren’t quite good enough on this occasion.’
Dudley coach Kay Parker added: ‘We knew Jets move the ball really quickly so we tried to be tight on them, close down the space and we just managed to penetrate their defence a bit more than we did when they came to us in October.
‘I thought our shooter was excellent, she was really strong against all the combinations Jets tried and I thought we moved the ball well. Jets defended really well in the second half and made it difficult for us but when we had fast ball, I thought we did particularly well.’
