Sports Editor Chris Teale reports on a early season defeat for Netball against Birmingham.
Netball I opened their Midlands Division 2B campaign with a narrow 46-43 home defeat to Birmingham III, who managed to scrape a lucky victory at the Sportspark.
Despite having a number of new players in their side for the new BUCS season, UEA started the first quarter brightly and took an early 3-0 lead as Birmingham struggled to cope with their fast-paced attacking play. However, after what was an impressive opening, a number of errors began to creep into the home side’s play, and they found themselves penalised on a number of occasions. Birmingham then began to increase the pressure, and went into the lead thanks to some ruthless finishing and good pressure on the rebounds. As the away side’s lead stretched to 11-5, UEA started to try and attack too quickly and gave the ball away on a few occasions, but they were able to force their way back into the game thanks to some Birmingham errors on the ball. After a tense first quarter, the score was 14-10 to Birmingham, with UEA hopeful of mounting a serious challenge to gain a positive result.
The second quarter began in much the same vein, with both teams showing early promise in their attacks but struggling to finish effectively. After Birmingham extended their lead to 16-12, UEA then found some much-needed momentum and came roaring back into the contest, levelling the score at 19-19 and briefly taking the lead soon afterwards in what was a pulsating passage of play. However, despite this, Birmingham also found some momentum of their own and went back into the lead, ending the quarter and the first half leading 24-21. However, there was hope for UEA, and they very much believed they could still win the game.
The third quarter was another topsy-turvy affair, with both sides having some breath-taking attacking moves from both sides and scoring a number of goals apiece. Once again, Birmingham extended their margin to 27-21, but then UEA came right back into the contest thanks to some superb offensive rebounding and some well-taken shots from long-range to close the gap to two. They were moving the ball around the court with great composure, but Birmingham somehow found a way to extend their advantage once again. When the whistle sounded at the end of what was an enthralling third quarter, the score was 35-32 to the away side, with an interesting final period in prospect for both sides.
The fourth and final quarter was perhaps the most entertaining of all, as both sides started to attack with more intensity as they looked to open up a large margin of goals. It was UEA that started the brightest, levelling the scores at 36-36 and playing some good defence to stifle Birmingham’s attacks. From there, the lead shifted between both sides as neither could open a decisive margin, and with the scores tied at 41-41, UEA had hope of snatching a victory. However, despite working very hard on the defensive side of the ball, Birmingham just managed to edge them out and open up a bigger goals advantage. UEA refused to give up, making for a very tense final few moments, but the final whistle blew to hand Birmingham victory by 46-43.
It was a pulsating game from start to finish that could have gone either way, but after this performance against a strong and well-drilled Birmingham outfit, they will be hopeful of doing well this season in their division. Next up will be an away match with Nottingham III, who also lost by a close margin, so an interesting match is in prospect.
Photo by Laura Smith.