GS Sarah Brennan GA Amy Neild WA Ebbie Danson-Chappell C Taylor Cullen WD Rachael Taylor GD Gemma McDermott GK Jess Dale Bench: Bryony Rhodes and Imogen Campbell-Heanue | Quarter scores (Oldham scores first) 1st qr 8-7 2nd qr 11-10 3rd qr 17-8 4th qr 10-11 MOM Taylor Cullen |
With a convincing win last week against Warrington, Oldham was rearing to go for the game against Leyland. Leyland was sitting in third position so Oldham knew it was important to come out hard at them. Oldham was focussing on maintaining possession, which didn’t look like they were achieving in the first quarter as they kept losing the ball. With many turnovers mainly from Gemma McDermott and Jess Dale, Oldham could not take the ball to goal, which Leyland took advantage of. Oldham trailed 5 goals to 2 in the 5 minutes of the game due to their errors, so they really needed to dig deep. Oldham’s defensive game was strong all the way through the court, however their attacking game was a different story. With mistake after mistake creeping in Oldham needed to settle down and play their own game. Taylor Cullen suffered a finger injury, this gave the team a breather to think about what the strategy was. Cullen and Rachael Taylor swapped positions and the game continued. Oldham improved slightly in their attacking game and scored 4 goals in a row, which allowed a come back at Leyland. Oldham managed a win in the first quarter by 1 goal, score after the first quarter was 8-7.
Coach Suzy Chapman opted to keep Cullen and Taylor where they were and bring on Campbell-Heanue at GS. Oldham started well scoring 3 goals in a row. Oldham were still making unforced errors and letting Leyland play their own game. Oldham were still turning a lot of ball over, but could not convert it, losing possession easily. With Oldham scoring 3 goals in a row, they then let Leyland do the same and this quarter went goal for goal for a while Leyland’s GS was popping them in from all over the circle, so it was important Oldham started to apply pressure early up the court. Oldham managed to win again by 1 goal taking the score to 19-17.
Changes were made going into the third quarter, Bryony Rhodes came into the WA position, Cullen came back to C, Taylor to WD and Sarah Brennan came back on at GA. Cullen led the way by an interception right at the start of the third quarter, which lifted Oldham and they scored 3 goals in a row 3 times in the first part of the quarter. Oldham started to play their own game and bring in some flat hard passing into great spaces. They also began to convert the turnovers more often, but it still wasn’t pretty netball. Oldham looked tired, which showed in parts of the quarter with little movement and complacent passes, but it was a better performance and Oldham began to take the score away from Leyland. Oldham won that quarter by 9 goals taking the score to 36-25
Going into the final quarter, Taylor came back on at C and Cullen to WD. Bryony Rhodes continued to impress coach Chapman with her fast turns and good vision in the circle. Oldham lifted and were determined to maintain this lead. Just as Oldham was on a positive road, Jess Dale, had a collision with the post and landed funny on the base holding her ankle. Unfortunately Dale was not able to continue and Chapman had to make some changes. McDermott went to GK, Cullen to GD and Amy Neild to C. The team stuck together and worked hard to maintain the win. Unfortunately Oldham lost the last quarter but 1 goal, but overall came out on to and remain at the top of the table with the final score 46-36.
Suzy Chapman quote:
“We started slow again in this game and Leyland came out on fire and we didn’t seem ready for it. We lost our first centre, which is never a good start. We also got 14 turnovers in our first quarter and only scored off 3 of them! However the team really fought back and it was a tough game for them, with some obvious tired legs. Having suffered another injury with Jess hurting her ankle, it wasn’t a good day at the ‘office’. A win is a win, but it wasn’t pretty!”
Our next game is against Bramhall on Sunday.
Changes were made going into the third quarter, Bryony Rhodes came into the WA position, Cullen came back to C, Taylor to WD and Sarah Brennan came back on at GA. Cullen led the way by an interception right at the start of the third quarter, which lifted Oldham and they scored 3 goals in a row 3 times in the first part of the quarter. Oldham started to play their own game and bring in some flat hard passing into great spaces. They also began to convert the turnovers more often, but it still wasn’t pretty netball. Oldham looked tired, which showed in parts of the quarter with little movement and complacent passes, but it was a better performance and Oldham began to take the score away from Leyland. Oldham won that quarter by 9 goals taking the score to 36-25
Going into the final quarter, Taylor came back on at C and Cullen to WD. Bryony Rhodes continued to impress coach Chapman with her fast turns and good vision in the circle. Oldham lifted and were determined to maintain this lead. Just as Oldham was on a positive road, Jess Dale, had a collision with the post and landed funny on the base holding her ankle. Unfortunately Dale was not able to continue and Chapman had to make some changes. McDermott went to GK, Cullen to GD and Amy Neild to C. The team stuck together and worked hard to maintain the win. Unfortunately Oldham lost the last quarter but 1 goal, but overall came out on to and remain at the top of the table with the final score 46-36.
Suzy Chapman quote:
“We started slow again in this game and Leyland came out on fire and we didn’t seem ready for it. We lost our first centre, which is never a good start. We also got 14 turnovers in our first quarter and only scored off 3 of them! However the team really fought back and it was a tough game for them, with some obvious tired legs. Having suffered another injury with Jess hurting her ankle, it wasn’t a good day at the ‘office’. A win is a win, but it wasn’t pretty!”
Our next game is against Bramhall on Sunday.