1st VII - Four in a Row!

Date: Tuesday 24 February 2009

A block of four netball fixtures against King's Canterbury during the course of the afternoon clearly favoured King's with three wins out of the four, but in 'the one that mattered', the 1st VII, 16 - 21 down after the third quarter, powered to a 26 -24 win, sending statisticians scurrying to the record books to discover when, and if, the 1sts had last beaten King's, and won four consecutive 1st team matches.

The Under 14s had been massacred, their limited resources stretched to breaking point by three key absentees; the Under 15s had gone down more respectably by 6 - 23; the 2nds had lost by 3 - 22, in the gloaming on an outside court; and, the 1sts were fighting to maintain a winning run, and the pride of St Edmund's.

St Edmund's shaded the 1st quarter, 4 - 3. The second was a disaster, with King's racing into a 13 - 7 lead, and St Ed's heads starting to go down. An apposite team talk from Mrs George at the half-way point restored team morale, and by winning the third quarter 9 - 8, we put ourselves in with a fighting chance for the last twelve minutes. Thanks to some superb shooting from Arabella Pemberton and Ellie Blanning, the non-stop midfield running of Helen Sabine, Katie McNie and skipper Tash Hopper, and the strong defence of Sam Catford and Susannah Benham, St Edmund's won that quarter by 10 - 3, and, much to the surprise, and absolute pleasure of the team, came back to the 26 - 24 win.

This was a day to remember, and one to improve on, as four sides take on Duke of York's RMS on Saturday, with the 1sts and 2nds travelling to Whitfield.