Back in Black but Bumped Off by the Better Team on the Day

Tigers Black 14 v Soi 8 17
The crowd was alive with energy as we arrived for finals night; marking the end of the netball year and the tigers’ first successful year. Tigers Black were first up, playing a fiery 34 minutes against Soi 8. Having really come together as a team over the last few weeks, we provided a strong opposition and rose to the challenges provided. Playing well, our fabulous wings (Lizzy and Sarah) and centre (Libby) provided the excellent support enabling our strong attacking force to penetrate their defence allowing scoring duo Toni and Marta to work their magic and get one in the net first – resounding ggggrrrrs echoed around as we returned to centre, caught a breath and continued the our half with strong determination to keep ahead. Soi 8 fought back, playing a fast paced game which kept us on our toes (and sometimes on our knees), despite managing to break through our defence, scoring twice in a row, defence displayed some quality under the net action, ready for rebounds and moving the ball on. With a roaring side line, we were spurred on, knowing that we were providing our own challenges. At halftime, in score-reversal of our last final meeting, we were narrowly ahead: 8-7. A few substitutions meant our ever increasing ambush all got to demonstrate their tiger spirit. After a few minutes to reacquaint partnerships and gauge our opponents substitutions; we provided another fast paced, quick thinking, rapid passing round meaning goals were shot and defended by our new duos Toni & Stacey, and Robson & Bridie. Team dynamics held strong, so that when the final whistle finally blew; with anticipation mounting…we had…drawn. I don’t think we’d ever drawn in the entire season, and here we were, the biggest night of the netball calendar with a standoff, a deadlock, an even-steven stalemate. With no momentous victory on either behalf we entered some encouraging, yet serious team talk from Robson and Marta (future Cap potential?!) Heads up, we were about to enter 4 minutes of extra time… 240 seconds, that’s all we had to win or lose. Tension mounting. The whistle blew. We were off. Our tremendous effort, active determination, and perseverance held strong, despite Soi 8’s first and second goals; tiger spirit never faded. We’d come so far in the last year, we’d fight til the end. Despite valiant efforts, we were unable to penetrate their defence. An excellent game, one in which we truly showed our team colours, had unfortunately ended in a Tiger Black defeat: 17 – 14. Grrrrr….

Tigers Black 8 vs Londoners 12
Whilst clearly being the loudest supporters on the side lines; spurring Tiger Golds on, the opportunity arose to play the Londoners, with a battle for third and forth places. We readily accepted, and re-gathered our team. Having beaten the Londoners in our last pre-finals match, we knew beating them was a possibility – they had some new players from our previous meeting so it took a while for our legs to warm up and work out their dynamics. Similar sides played both first and second halves, with the addition of Chelsey. On such an important night on the netball calendar, it was impossible to slow the pace down – everyone wanted a piece of the action. We demonstrated great marking, superb passing, we thought about our footwork and our spacing, and possession started off quite equal. Unfortunately for us, despite tiger spirit shining through and perseverance which ensued throughout our game we were defeated. Perhaps it was their new players, perhaps it was the fact that we’d sat and rested, believing that we’d played our last game of the season, perhaps the old saying ‘quit whilst you’re ahead’ ringing true, perhaps I should just stop making excuses… After a superb match, one which showed us to be a fine and strong team, we were beaten by the Londoners, final score Tigers Black 8, Londoners 12.