GRASSHOPPER NC CLINCHES ITS FIRST REGIONAL LEAGUE WIN!

This week’s round of East Midlands Netball Regional League matches saw Grasshopper NC come up against one of Division 2’s top teams, Iceni, in a well-contested and hard fought game (04/11/12).

True to form, Grasshoppers took an early lead in the first quarter, with some excellent shooting by Goal Attack (GA) Donna Osborn and headed into the break 11-9 up. Grasshoppers’ hard work continued to pay off during the second quarter as they consolidated their lead and headed into the half time interval, 21-16 up.

Coach Anne Melling made some changes for the second half. Selina Jones came off, Karmen Askew moved to Centre (C) and Claire Fielding came on at Wing Attack (WA).

The third quarter saw Iceni fight back, despite some strong defending by Goal Keeper (GK) Tracy Glover, Goal Defence (GD) Stephanie Hiom and Wing Defence (WD) Laura Harbour. By the end of the third quarter the scores had narrowed to just 30-27.

Coach Melling made some final changes in the last quarter, bringing back Jones at Centre (C), moving Askew back to Wing Attack (WA), moving Harbour to Goal Defence (GD) and taking off Hiom.

There ensued an extremely fraught and nail-biting final quarter for both sides with goals going in at both ends of the court. In the end, time was against Iceni though and Beth Smith and Donna Osborn did enough for Grasshoppers to clinch their first win of the season by just one goal.

The final score was Grasshopper NC 36-35 Iceni.

The Player of the Match was awarded to Laura Harbour for some fantastic defensive work.