Match Reports – 25th January 2012

Click here to read the match reports from the 25th of January 2012…

Portsmouth 1sts vs Chichester 1sts
Home or Away: Home
Final Score: Portsmouth 33 – Chichester 26
Written by: Tasha Bond

After playing Chichester first team in the first part of the season, and losing quite heavily – we went out ‘all guns blazing,’ determined to win. They were top of our division, with a couple of girls who played for England so we knew it would be a challenge. The courts were quite slippery so we made sure to keep a short and sharp game, trying hard to drive forward making Chichester’s defence struggle. The first quarter saw us 2 goals down – so we had to make sure we pushed harder with a tight defence entering the second quarter. Half way into the second quarter, Alice Berry went down with an injury and had to be substituted. Kelly Fenlon went from Wing Defence to Goal Defence – with Nicola Eliott moving from Wing Attack to Wing Defence. Harriet Ramirez came on to take the position of Wing Attack and came on strong. Hats off to Harriet, for coming onto the court unprepared for an injury substitute, playing well and adapting to the pace of the game quickly. Unfortunately Chichester’s team out run us, and losing a member of our team to an injury, we once again ended up down in the second quarter, by 6 goals. With morale boosting speeches from the coach, myself and vice-captain Nicola Eliott we made sure our team went into the second half with their heads held high. We all defended tight – all the way from attack to defence. With some amazing interceptions from Sally Tibbitts we managed to catch up from being 6 goals down. The third quarter saw Emily Edwards substitute Harriet Ramirez as Wing Attack – with Emily Edwards stepping up to a position she rarely plays. We went from strength to strength, with our determination to succeed and knock Chichester off the top spot helping us win. Winning score 33 – 26. Keep up the winning First team.

Portsmouth 3rds vs Sussex 1sts
Home or Away: Away
Final Score: Sussex 46 – Portsmouth 28
Written by: Corrine Murphy

After having a respectable win against Brighton before the Christmas break, Portsmouth 3rd team were looking forward to some more wins going into the second half of the season. After previously losing to Sussex we knew this would be a tough match. At the start of the match the defenders were tight onto shooter Holly Formstone and we knew our usual high balls into her wouldn’t work so we changed our game working it around the circle with some great feeds in by WA Kate Stuckey into GA Corrine Murphy. Despite outstanding interceptions by GK Cathy Nichols and GD Chloe Taylor we were down all the way through the first half. We were beginning to close the gap in the second half. Charlotte Knowles took the court as GK and worked effectively with Cathy as GD to retrieve rebounds. C Morwenna McKenzie and WD Mel Faux worked tirelessly in the centre and defending third allowing us to convert some of their mistakes to goals. No matter how much effort we put in, Sussex’s fast play and strong defending won them the game. Thanks to Holly and Mo for driving. Player of the match was awarded to Corrine Murphy.

Portsmouth 4ths vs Royal Holloway 1sts
Home or Away: Away
Final Score: Royal Holloway 39 – Portsmouth 13
Written by: Tamara Paton

For the third time this season Portsmouth Netball 4th team were up against Royal Holloway 1st team. After an early arrival, many of Portsmouth team were eager to begin the game. After a loss in their previous visit, Portsmouth were feeling determined to settle the score. Holloway won the toss and took first centre; they were hot out of the blocks taking an early lead in the first quarter, the Portsmouth team having to work incredibly hard not only in defence but all across the court. With a 9 goal deficit going into the second quarter, but spirits still high Portsmouth went back on court with the belief that this was a difference they could still pull back. Despite some excellent defensive work between Rosie West, Sarah Blackmore and Tamara Paton, constantly trying to break down every Holloway attack and possibly some umpiring decisions, the gap between the scores grew by another three goals. The third quarter saw Sarah Blackmore take up the Goal Attack position, Tamara Paton change to centre and Nola Hamilton moving from centre court to circle defence. Steph Keay was also brought in at Wing Defence, however due to injury; Steph’s time on court was shorter than expected, meaning the team had to return back to their original positions. The determination and effort of the 4th team throughout the game could not be faulted, Sophie Wright and Rachel Bealing trying every trick in the book to try and evade there oppositions, but the rim of the goal seemed to be their enemy, getting in the way of many attempts on goal. Interceptions were flying around from both teams in the fourth quarter, with Megan Gibson and Nola trying desperately to bring the ball back down to the Portsmouth attacking third. However, in the end, defending their pride was more the aim for the Portsmouth team, trying to decrease the deficit as much as possible before the final whistle, with a final score of 13-39.

Portsmouth 5ths vs Imperial Medics 2nds
Home or Away: Home
Final Score: Portsmouth 46 – Imperial Medics 31
Written by: Kate Ashcroft

On the 25th January, the 5th team had there first match back, after the christmas break against Imperial Medics. The game was almost a Bi as imperial turned up almost 15 minutes late for the game. This was very frustrating for the 5ths as we were all pumped up, warmed up and ready to play, so when they were late this made all the 5ths quite aggravated. For a first game back, we played well as a team, however there are definitely areas that we need to improve on for are next match. The final score was 46-31 to the 5ths, so a great success and hopefully we can continue this winning streak and will be on the road to promotion for next season.

Portsmouth 6ths vs Roehampton 1sts
Home or Away: Away
Final Score: Roehampton 36 – Portsmouth 34
Written by: Charlotte Hughes

When faced with Roehampton earlier in the league, as our first league game, we had only lost by five goals, and as knew that we had trained hard and improved greatly as a team, we could make the match ours. We went into the game confident that we could secure a win, as it was much needed as Roehampton were one place above us in the league. After a thorough warm up we were ready for the game to start. The game got off to a slow start and we took a few minutes to settle. However, when we did, we used all our skills that we had learned from training to work the ball well down court for Emily (C) and Alice (WA) to feed into Carly (GA) and Lauren (GS) who both were on form to secure the important goals. After the first quarter we were slightly ahead, and confident we could maintain the lead. Going into the second quarter we improved even more so, with everyone on court playing very well. Georiga (GK) and Paige (GD) communicated well together to stop Roehampton’s shooters from scoring, forcing them to attempt to work it round the circle. This meant great pressure was put on their attack, which resulted in interceptions, and enabled Alice and Emily to feed into Lauren and Carly, who moved round the circle well to gain space, to score. At half time we were leading by 7 goals, and with Amy on at WA we had fresh legs to try and maintain the pressure on Roehampton, to keep up our lead. Our play continued well with both attack working well together and defence making excellent interceptions. Roehampton managed to close the gap slightly in the third quarter to four goals, and going into the final quarter it was quite evenly matched. The quarter started with a turnover from Charlotte (WD) and more interceptions made by Emily, Paige and Georgia. The score was very evenly matched throughout the majority of the last quarter. However, as the time went down the pressure started to get to us, and Roehampton dug in to claw their way back. It was clear that we began to panic and let this affect our game, as in the last three minutes Roehampton pulled the score back and we lost 36 goals to 34. It was a great effort from everyone and the score did not reflect how well everybody played, it was majorly disappointing that we could not secure the win, well played girls. Player of the match went to Emily Reeves.