After our home defeat to the Yorkshire Jets, Celtic Dragon’s coach Melissa Hyndman reflects on the match:
Celtic Dragons vs Yorkshire Jets FNSL Round 4 17 February 2012
After a tough game against Thunder we had a hard week of preparation ahead. Two good training sessions gave us the confidence to go out and correct the mistakes from the weekend before in Manchester. However as we all know sport is unpredictable and sometimes what you plan for doesn’t necessary happen. Although sickness hit our team and took a couple of our top seven out, it gave others the opportunity of starting. This created a different dynamic but with so much depth of youth and talent, it wasn’t something I was worried about.
We knew that Yorkshire Jets would come out fighting strong as we both needed this win. The first quarter saw Jets come out strong but we never let the score get too far away from us and the first quarter finished 11/13 to Jets. We didn’t do the basics well and needed to re-group as a squad if we were going to win a position in top four. We had practised some strong plays during the week specifically to battle it out with Jets, but it just didn’t come to play. We knew Jets would come out with hard man to man and hands over the ball but it just took us too long to adapt, and at this level you can’t do that. We had some great passages of play with good speed and movement but just couldn’t break the four goal deficit.
We had a great turnout at Sport Wales creating a tense and nervous atmosphere, but very exciting. Warren Gatland attended showing his support for the Welsh side. This was his first netball game that he had watched live in Wales and wasn’t disappointed. Jets had one of the strongest games so far this season with consistency in every quarter and this made it a very closely contested game. Our slow start meant that we were constantly chasing. Our errors let us down as we had the opportunity several times to take the lead. The final quarter was a nail biter however we just couldn’t keep our momentum which left Jets in control and ahead by 8 at the final whistle.
The squad was very disappointed after a tiring and frustrating game. We now have to go back to the drawing board and ensure that our last two games of the first round are successful. It will be tough as we are yet to play Surrey Storm and Loughborough Lightening, not easy at all. I’m sure with the determination and ability in our squad we will end up in that top four. Sophie Morgan received the Celtic Manor Player of the match which was awarded to her by the Wales Rugby Coach Warren Gatland at the after match function.
