Sport Neck-and-neck rivals ready to do battle again

NATALIE Haythornthwaite says Wasps Netball are focused on winning what could be a dress rehearsal for the Superleague semi-finals next month.

Manchester Thunder host Wasps Netball on Monday (7.30pm centrepass) in the Vitality Netball Superleague, with both sides in need of one more win to mathematically secure a Final Four spot.

The teams enter the game level on points and current Superleague standings would see them meet in the semi-final stage.

Wasps lost to Thunder earlier this season, but star goal attack Haythornthwaite is determined to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

She said: “We didn’t put in a good enough perfor mance when we played Thunder last time round and we are focused on making sure we get the win this time.

“The first time we met Loughborough Lightning we lost, but we beat them the next time we played them and we want to do just that against Thunder.

“It’s looking like this could be almost a rehearsal for a semi-final match, so it’s a great opportunity to test ourselves and also see how they’ve improved since we last played against them. “We might only need one more win but we want to win all of the next four games, we want to show everyone in the league what we are capable of as a team.” Manchester Thunder have won three of their last four games, with their only loss since February coming against table-toppers Loughborough Lightning. Wasps Netball have enjoyed a similar regular season to Thunder and were on a seven-match unbeaten run before the loss to Team Bath in their last game. Coach Tamsin Greenway said: “Thunder beat us at home, but that was right at the beginning of the season, so I’m actually really looking forward to it on Monday – it’s going to be a good tough game.

“You want to be playing this kind of high-quality opposition towards the end of the season.

“We want to go out there, give it our best shot, get the win and make sure the next time we come to Manchester is for the Final Four weekend.”

Wasps Netball’s next home game will see them welcome reigning Superleague champions Surrey Storm to the Ricoh Arena on Monday, May 22 (8pm centre-pass).

Tickets start from £10 for adults while under-10s go free, and can be purchased from www.waspsnetball. co.uk/tickets.

It’s a great opportunity to test ourselves and also see how Thunder have improved since we last played against them.