Blue & Gold recover to record great double over Thunder
Team Bath twice came from behind on Monday to win one of the 2021 Vitality Netball Superleague’s most enthralling encounters so far by 44-41 over perennial rivals Manchester Thunder, closing out back-to-back victories.
Bath centre and Player of the Match Serena Guthrie hailed the Haines Watts-sponsored side’s victory as a ‘championship performance’ at London’s Copper Box.
Trailing by five goals, 22-17, at the second quarter mid-point before levelling 23-apiece at half-time. Guthrie said “we knew that we had to put our bodies on the line and die for the Blue and Gold.”
“That was a championship performance,” she added. “You have to build belief and that’s why tonight’s performance was really important for us.”
Thunder took the early initiative, closing Bath down with physicality and accuracy. Team Bath had to work hard to get the ball through the midcourt to feed the attack and, under pressure, missed one or two opportunities.
Thunder, by contrast, capitalised on turn-over and found accurate shooters Joyce Mvalu and Ellie Cardwell with regularity, despite the close attention and best efforts of the Bath defensive duo of Eboni Usoro-brown and Layla Guscoth. They led 14-9 at the quarter-break.
When the ever-accurate Bath shooter, Kim Borger, missed from a turn-over opportunity at 20-16, the Bath outlook looked bleak but somehow the Rengen-backed outfit remained resilient and found a crucial turn-over through Sophie Drakeford Lewis who later netted a pressure shot at 22-23 to bring the score level at halftime.
Bath again went behind in the third quarter in an increasingly robust contest which saw players flying and multiple contacts called including a caution for Cardwell when Thunder were 30-27 up. With a soaring work-rate and creativity, Bath found kept themselves within two at the three-quarter break 34-21.
A converted Guscoth turn-over, a switch in attacking tactics from Borger and Drakeford Lewis meant Bath went ahead at 36-35 for the first time since the score was 3-2 in their favour in the opening ten minutes. Two sparkling intercepts from Imogen Allison, backed by a flying Guthrie turn-over marked the moments at which Team Bath moved to a winning position before closing out the match at 44-41.
No wonder Team Bath coach Anna Stembridge named Allison as her coach’s player of the match: “For me, Imo was my ‘man of the match’ – not just defensively but also in attack. Her decision making and quick hands are just sensational. She has taken her game to a whole other level.”
Stembridge also talked of her pride in the team and in their determination to stick to task in the face of huge pressure: “I am incredibly proud of the team but also credit to Thunder. They have a great coaching team and tactically they caused us some problems today in what was a really hotly-contested game.”