It was 4 wins and 3 defeats on the first set of premier games in the new year! Pictured are our G team who won their first game of the season.
Essex Met
Essex Open A 37 Manor B 25
Essex made hard work of this latest Essex met league fixture, but victory keeps them second in division one a point behind the leaders. Essex were not at their best but had too much for the Manor side who fought well but could never really come to grips with the Essex side. Essex started well and the centre court trio of Naomi Allen, Sarah Biss and Rebecca Wilks were providing lots of opportunities for Sophia Sefton and Leila Allen to put some goals on the board. At one stage during the quarter Essex lead 8-3 and this promised to be a comfortable victory. At the end of the quarter the score line of 9-4 reflected a scrappy game with few goals. The second quarter followed a similar pattern but was much more tightly contested with Essex edging it by 10 goals to 9.
Unfortunately, Essex were never able to take the game away from Manor who always remained in contention. The third quarter was one of misplaced passes and an inability to convert possession into goals for both sides. As a result, the third quarter was drawn at 7 goals each meaning that Essex took a 6-goal lead into the final part of the game.
Fortunately for Essex they were able to step up a gear in the last quarter with Leila Allen and Sophia Sefton scoring at frequent intervals. Whilst Essex started the quarter scoring 8 goals mamma could only reply with 2. Consequently, the result was never in question and Essex won the game 37-25.
Stewart, Edwards, N Allen, Biss, R Wilks, Sefton, L Allen
Essex Open B 30 Manor A 45
The result in this match did not reflect the competitive nature of this game which at half-time hung very much in the balance. Indeed, in the first quarter at one stage Essex held a 5-goal lead and a real shock looked to be on the cards. Unfortunately, Essex were never able to sustain their performance over the whole of the game and Manor eventually went away with the points.
Essex started the game well and dominated the early stages. Nicola Wilks, Rosie Brabrook and Rebecca Mead took charge of the centre court and gave the Essex shooters the opportunities to build a lead. Halfway through the first quarter Essex found themselves 9-5 ahead thanks to some good shooting from Leila Allen and Kacey Luxton
However, in the last part of the quarter Manor came back strongly and at the first interval Essex held a 12-9 lead. In the first part of the second quarter the Essex lead disappeared as Manor pulled the scores level at 12 each.
The rest of the quarter was even as both teams tried to gain that the initiative. Lauren Dawkins and Sarah Campbell were performing excellently in defence to make it hard for the Manor shooters to score goals. Essex were playing some of their best netball of the season and at half-time trailed by a solitary goal as Manor led 21-20.
Essex were able to make changes in the second half, but they found it hard to contain the Manor side. Although Dawkins and Campbell continued to make life difficult for Manor, Essex were also struggling to get the ball into the circle and convert chances into goals. As a result, the third quarter was a low scoring affair with Manor managing 9 goals to only 6 from Essex.
The last quarter required a big effort from Essex to get back into the game. Unfortunately, the first part of the quarter saw any Essex hopes of victory disappear as Manor scored 6 goals without reply. Once again in the last quarter Essex found scoring goals very difficult and were unable to contain Manor. As a result, when the final whistle went Essex had lost 45 to 30 in a game that was very much closer than this.
Dawkins, Campbell, N Wilks, Brabrook, Mead, Stevens, Luxton, L Allen
Essex Open C 47 Kemscott 42
In a thrilling game of netball Essex were never behind but, in the end, we are glad to hear the final whistle go. From the outset Essex looked as if they had control of the game in the centre court where Josie Gibbons, Kate Wilks and Jasmine Easterbrook had lots of possession. With Lara May scoring quick goals Essex took control early on. However, for the rest of the quarter the match was very evenly poised, and Essex led 8-7 at the whistle. In the first part of the next quarter it looked as if Essex were going to take the game away from Kelmscott as they scored 4 quick goals to go 5 goals in front. However, Kelmscott kept themselves very much in the game and the second quarter was very evenly matched with Essex scoring 13 against Kelmscott’s 11.
in the third quarter the game opened considerably with both sides scoring freely. Charlotte Peters and Mia Citreon were working hard in defence and Kacey Luxton had now joined Lara May in the shooting circle and made an immediate impact. Both sides scored freely and at the end of the third quarter Essex led 36-31 and looked to have the game under control. When Essex increased the lead to 6 at the start of the final quarter the game looked to be all over. However, Essex allowed Kelmscott to get right back into the game conceding possession on too many occasions. From a position of relative security, the game look to be slipping away from Essex as Kelmscott scored 7 goals with a solitary Essex reply to bring the scores level at 38 all. At this stage Kacey Luxton scored 2 quick goals to put Essex back in front but Kelmscott fought back and once again levelled the scores at 42 all. With time running out the game hung in the balance but fortunately Essex held their nerve and in the last couple of minutes managed to score 5 goals without reply to secure a hard-fought victory.
Peters, Citreon, Gibbons, K Wilks, Easterbrook, E Biss, Mia-Burke, Luxton, May
Other results
Essex Open D 30 Leytoon C 58
Essex Open E 24 New Cambell Purple 37
Essex Open F 36 Foxes 3 31
Essex Open G 34 Ilford 23
