LINCOLN CITY 1 HAVE MIXED QUARTERS AGAINST LEICESTERSHIRE'S TFC

Lincoln City 1 (the Imps) were missing four key players for their East Midlands Netball Regional League Division 1 game against top of the table, TFC (04/11/12). Angie White, Laura Bartle, Katherine Sturton and Anna Gilbert were all absent and so five members of the Lincoln City 2 squad were called up to play.

TFC took a three-goal lead as the Imps tried to find their feet. Lincoln City’s defence was strong though and Lizzie Saywell and Lucy Heathershaw continued to put pressure on TFC’s shooters, turning over possession on several occasions. However, the Imps also struggled to release the ball from their defence at times and were therefore unable to capitalise on the turnovers they’d produced. The quarter finished 6-15 to TFC.

The second quarter saw Amy Womersley and Vicky Bayes switch positions in attack, giving Amy more freedom. Lincoln City 1’s movement in the centre court was restricted by TFC though and it led to a few of the Imps’ passes going to the opposition. Fortunately, Lincoln City 1’s defence were displaying some fine rebounding and Lizzie Saywell in particular made a great interception. It was not enough to close the gap though and the Imps were down 13-27 going into half-time.

Lincoln City 1 made some changes at half-time. Zoe Cooper came on at Wing Attack (WA), Megan Samways moved to Wing Defence (WD), with Beth Richardson moving to Goal Defence (GD) and former Goal Defence (GD) Lucy Heathershaw moving to Goal Keeper (GK). The changes helped the Imps assert greater control on the game and increased the movement down the court.

There was an obvious change in momentum in the game as Lincoln City 1 fought back, scoring four goals in a row and as the third quarter went on, so did the Imps’ influence. Beth Richardson made a brilliant one handed interception, while Zoe Cooper made some great feeds into the attack, which aided Vicky Bayes and Amy Womersley to double their shooting statistics compared to the previous two quarters. However, TFC came back and scored three goals on the bounce. The quarter ended with TFC still winning 38 goals to 25 but Lincoln City 1 took positives from the fact that they had won this quarter, 12-11.

TFC brought back their original shooter at Goal Attack (GA) for the fourth quarter, which caused some problems for the Imps. Lincoln City 1 continued to play well and their shooting was excellent but TFC stormed ahead in and the game finished 34-55 in their favour.

Lincoln City 1’s Player of the Match went to: Gemma Carter. Gemma was Coach, Captain and Centre (C) throughout the match. She linked the attack and defence well and encouraged others not to give up.