Fast pace, close cut and uncertain: three ways to describing the thrilling victory Birmingham’s women’s second team achieved over their opposition last night in a tight win against Cambridge first netball team.
The final score of 47-33 to Birmingham reflects the Lionesses’ energy, skill and technique which facilitated their ability to strong arm Cambridge’s weaker structure in a 14-point lead. Initially, the two teams were extremely closely matched. Despite Birmingham taking an immediate 3-point lead, this gap was quickly closed by Cambridge whose strength lay in their phenomenal GS. UoB finished both the first and second quarter with only a single point advantage.
As the game progressed a combination of Birmingham’s strong facilitating mid court players and excellent play-making from the GD lead to an enhanced lead and a more stable position lead. An excellent well communicated and tactically pairing of Lionesses Imogen and Emma worked efficiently with the centre court players getting into great positioning for an increasing number of accurate goals.
By the third quarter, Birmingham had stretched to a 7-point lead going into the final quarter with a strong score of 34 to Cambridge’s 27. There were continually strong interceptions from both the GK and GD which added to the pressure on Cambridge, including their initially flawless GS, whose increasing sloppy play was becoming obvious and rife in opportunity for Birmingham to greater advance their own position.
Ultimately, the Lionesses were more clinical a d had the edge. Despite a close start and uncertainty, UoB sharpened their accuracy and used a combination of strong facilitating central players and aggressive strong defence and efficient positioning and accuracy of attack achieved a well deserve victory over a difficult team. This places Birmingham into a stronger position going into their next game and advancing in the league.
