BLOOMING MARVELLOUS:
Red Roses strike gold in last second to spring a massive shock and give Tracey Neville bragging rights over brothers Phil and Gary
TRACEY NEVILLE claimed bragging rights over her footballing brothers after masterminding the biggest shock in netball history.
The sister of former Manchester United stars Gary and Phil led England, in their first-ever Commonwealth Games Final, to a 52-51 victory over 10-time outright world champions Australia.
The Red Roses stunned the host nation as the final buzzer sounded with Helen Housby netting the dramatic winner.
“To score the winning goal, in the final, against Australia, in the last second – every single box has been ticked,” said England’s goal attack. “This is the best day of my life.”
Asked to place the achievement alongside all that her family had won in sport, team boss Neville (below) declared: “Obviously mine’s the better one!”
Gary watched the drama unfold through the night and when Housby struck the killer blow tweeted: “Yeeesssss!!! The most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”
His wife recorded his reaction on her phone – and pinged the video straight to his sister.
It took Tracey back 19 years to when she was away on an England tour watching on TV as her brothers helped United beat Bayern Munich to win the Champions League Final.
“I remember the Treble in Barcelona when they put that goal in,” she said of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s stoppage-time winner. “It was 4am and I was screaming in a room. We are a little bit competitive as a family, but we support each other 100 per cent. “We live, eat and breathe sport. My brothers want to be successful and I’m no different. It’s our passion. It’s in our blood, we live and breathe it.” Housby’s last-gasp strike was English netball’s Jonny Wilkinson moment. Every bit as significant for the sport as Wilko’s World Cup-winning drop goal, also against Australia, was for rugby in 2003. Netball cannot get into the Olympics so does not get the funding other sports do. Yet, there was a 44 per cent increase in participation at grass-roots level in the last year, with nearly 30,000 now playing across England.
Winning the biggest prize in the sport, against opponents they had not defeated in five years, can only help their case for greater recognition.
Australia, nicknamed the Diamonds presumably because they thought their dominance was forever, were not battle-hardened. Everybody had talked them up but nobody had actually tested them before England.
Goal keeper Geva Mentor did such a job on Caitlin Bassett that Aussie head coach Lisa Alexander had to haul off her star goal shooter.
The home team still led by four in the final quarter, but never-say-die England clawed it back to 51-51 with just 20 seconds to play.
Jo Harten had a chance to win it but failed with a rushed attempt with the clock down to five, before a late contact call allowed Housby to become the hero.