SLEAFORD STRENGTH SAPS GRASSHOPPERS

Grasshoppers Netball Club took on Sleaford Barge in the East Midlands Netball Regional League Division 2 this weekend. Whilst Grasshoppers made a sluggish start to the match, Sleaford came sprinting out of the traps and with some slick passing and accurate shooting to take an 18-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. Sleaford’s solid, springy defence made things difficult for the Grasshopper’s attack.

Coach Anne Melling changed the team around after the first quarter, replacing Karmen Askew at Wing Attack (WA) with Claire Fielding and bringing on Tracy Glover at Goal Keeper (GK) – who was making her first appearance for Grasshoppers for several weeks. This improved things somewhat and Grasshoppers started to mount a fight back but Sleaford were still dominant and eventually won the second quarter by 15 goals to 9. The half time score was 17-33.

After the break, Coach Melling brought Karmen Askew back on at Wing Attack (WA) and moved Laura Harbour from Wing Defence (WD) to Goal Defence (GD). Fran Barney came back on at Goal Defence (GD) to work with Tracy Glover and at the end of the third quarter the score was 28-47. This was Grasshopper’s best quarter yet, with the team only losing out by 11 goals to 14.

The same team combination remained for the final quarter and in spite of the score, every Grasshopper player kept trying hard. Grasshopper’s defence continued to pile the pressure onto the, up until now, very accurate Sleaford shooters whilst at the other end of the court, Grasshopper’s attack began to show some dominance too. In fact, the whole team effort and ethos saw Grasshopper actually win the fourth and final quarter 12-10.

The final score was Grasshopper 40-57 Sleaford Barge.

Player of the Match award was jointly shared between Tracy Glover and Laura Harbour.