Southby berates slackness
GOLD COAST: Silver Ferns boss Janine Southby has accused her troops of resting on their laurels during a terrible second quarter in their 7044 Commonwealth Games pool win over Wales.
The Kiwis won their second successive preliminary match yesterday without significant trouble, but their secondquarter showing will have given cause for concern.
Cruising with a 2314 advantage heading into quartertime, the Ferns sank into a 15minutelong panic attack in the second period, conceding 13 goals to nine and giving up possession again and again.
Wales, ranked 10th in the world, lost to New Zealand by 65 and 33 goals in the sides’ February 2017 test series and had never previously won a quarter against the Ferns.
The Kiwis rallied in the third period after injecting Te Paea SelbyRickit at goal shoot and Kelly Jury at goal keep, piling on six unanswered goals at the start of the quarter and reestablishing a 5336 lead.
The Ferns then cruised to the final hooter.
Southby liked what she saw from the first and third quarters, but said the second quarter was a clear case of her side slackening off.
‘‘We were guilty of doing sloppy stuff and thinking we were going to get away with it, and that’s just not good enough at this level,’’ Southby said.
‘‘The girls have to look at it — what did we do differently, did we think we’d already got it and didn’t have to work hard?
‘‘But they came away and that group in the second half did a good job.’’
SelbyRickit’s introduction proved a catalyst for the Kiwis’ secondhalf boost, nabbing 28 goals of the 31 and always looking dangerous.
Bailey Mes also recovered from a poor firstup performance against Uganda on Thursday to net 10 goals as goal attack.
While the Ferns have two comfortable wins on the board, they are unlikely to have it so easy in the coming days with the likes of Australia, England and Jamaica on the horizon.
They face Malawi tomorrow and Southby is grateful for the rest day after two physical contests. —AAP