Author: admin

Essex led at half time in their fixture away to Capital Nuns today but ultimately squandered the opportunity to gain victory.
There are times when you are beaten by the better side. On other occasions you are the better side but fail to push home your advantage. This was one of them. When the final whistle went it was difficult to work out how Essex had lost this game by a 6 goal margin. The fact that they did was down to a poor 3rd quarter performance.
Essex missing key players started well. In the first quarter Essex held their own with Emma Thorogood, Sarah Biss and Rebecca Wilks creating good chances for Rochelle Reynolds-Blanche and Leah Hayzelden to score sufficient goals to keep Essex in the game. In defence Jasmin Odeogberin and Renee Hurley made some excellent interceptions. With the game swinging one way and then the other Essex found themselves taking a narrow 13-12 lead into the second quarter. In the second quarter Essex pushed home their advantage to take a 17-13 lead early on. Capital Nuns fought back and scored 3 goals without response to reduce the deficit to a single goal.
Essex took the initiative for a period around the middle of the quarter and at one stage held a 5 goal lead, being 26-21 in front. Some sloppy play at the very end of the quarter meant that Essex had their lead cut to 3 at half time with the score at 27-24.
Early in what was to be a disastrous quarter for Essex, they were rocked by a 2 minute suspension for Renee Hurley for dangerous play, when the collision seemed to be entirely accidental. This allowed Capital Nuns to pull the scores level at 30 all. There followed a crucial period which to all intents and purposes cost Essex the match. Poor passing and a failure to take chances saw Essex manage only 2 goals whereby Capital Nuns scored 8 Essex fought back and reduced the deficit to 3 going into the final quarter.
At the start of the final quarter Essex lost their composure and made a series of unforced errors which ended any hopes of a victory,
Essex continued to fight hard but unfortunately it was too late and the damage had been done in a disappointing third quarter.
Odeogberin, Hurley, Thorogood, Biss, R Wilks, Reynolds-Blance, Hayzelden, Seton, Mead and Edwards.

Essex Open A became Essex Met Division 1 Champions as they defeated New Cambell Blues 41-38 at Redbridge Sports Centre today.
Essex Open A emerged as champions of the Essex Met League Division 1 after a narrow victory over New Cambell Blue.at Redbridge Sports Centre today. From the outset it was a closely fought contest. Cambell started well and took an early lead. However throughout the game Essex were defensively very strong and made it difficult for Cambell to get the ball into the Essex circle. Emma Shaw enjoyed an excellent game on her return from injury and Rene Hurley continued to display her huge promise as goalkeeper. Nicola Alves as wing defence gave Shaw and Hurley excellent support. Midway through the first quarter the scores were level at 6 all. Essex then started to dominate possession with Sarah Biss and Rebecca Wilks creating lots of chances for Leah Hayzelwood and Maddie Oshodi taking advantage scoring 6 goal with Cambell only able to make a solitary response. Towards the end of the quarter Cambell fought back and at the end of it had reduced the deficit to 2 as Essex led 11-9.
In the second quarter Essex dominated the early exchanges as Cambell found it difficult to handle Hayzelden and Oshodi who threatened to take the game away from them. Essex extended their lead to 6 with the score at 19-13. Cambell fought back briefly but Essex took their 6 goal lead into the half time interval.
Cambell made tactical changes at half time which caused Essex real problems at the start of the 3rd quarter. Finding goals difficult to come by Cambell halved the deficit. Cambell narrowly won the quarter and at the end of it Essex led 31-27.
Going into the final quarter Essex needed to retain possession of the ball and make it difficult for Cambell to get down the court. the first part of the quarter started well and Essex found themselves 36-30 in front and in control. However as in a number of games this season Essex found it difficult to retain possession and gave the ball away all too frequently.
Cambell battled hard and reduced the deficit to 2. However Essex kept their heads and passed the ball around in order to run the clock down. When the final whistle went Essex
held a 3 goal lead.
Hurley, Shaw, Alves, Biss, R Wilks, Hayzelden, Oshodi.

It was victories for the A, D, E (Under 16s), E and F teams in the Met League On Saturday.
Essex Open enjoyed a successful Saturday in the Met League winning 5 games out of 7.
The A team enjoyed a 63-51 win over Leyton A to set up a final match decider to win the division 1 championship. The first quarter was very finely balanced. Essex were having numerous chances to score which were well taken by Leah Hayzelden and Maddie Oshodi. However at the other end Leyton were also finding goals easy to come by. The first quarter was very tight and with a few minutes left Essex led 14-13. 3 quick goals saw Essex take a 17-13 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter was very evenly contested. In truth the game was littered with mistakes. Leyton edged the quarter reducing the deficit by 1. In truth if they had taken their chances they could have gone in front. at half time Essex led 2-25.

After half time Essex slightly edged it having periods where they scored a number of goals in quick succession. With a quarter to go Essex led 46-38.
At the start of the last quarter Essex took the game away from Leyton and ended up with a comfortable 63-51 victory.

Linehan, Thorogood, Alves, Biss, Mead, Hayzelden and Oshodi

Essex Open B suffered an agonising 56 – 55 defeat in a match which they really should have won. The first quarter was very evenly contested and with time running out Essex led 14-13, but they lost concentration towards the end of it and Manor scored 4 goals with a single response from Essex to see them leading 18-15 in front.
Essex played very well in the second quarter. the centre court was being dominated by Olivia Edwards, Sarah Braiden and Rebecca Mead. Essex turned a 3 goal deficit into 4 goal advantage to lead32-28 at the break.
Manor started the third quarter well with and midway through the quarter hdr reduced the deficit to 1 as they trailed Essex 40-39.the rest of the quarter saw both teams matching each other goal for goal and going into the last quarter Essex led 44-43.
Essex started the last quarter well scoring 3 goals without response to lead 47-43. Both teams then matched each other goal for goal as Essex maintained a 4 goal lead to go 50-46 in front. As has been the case in recent weeks Essex failed to manage the game. in the next10 minutes Essex made numerous mistakes and allowed Manor A to take control at a crucial time with less than 2 minutes to go Manor took the lead. Essex then scored off the Manor centre to bring the deficit back to 1. Essex had centre pass but were not able to get the ball into the Manor circle so suffered defeat in a game they should have won.

Essex Open C suffered a 57-41 defeat to table topping New Cambell Red but have finished 5th in the league.
Essex Open D defeated Phoenix Flames 24-16 to finish 3rd in the table. However Essex Open D (Under 16s) won division 5 winning all 13 games to date defeating Foxes 1’s 57-31.
Both the E and F teams were also victorious. The E team defeated Sapphire D 48-25 and the F team beat Manor Met G 46-31.

Essex Open were relegated from division 1 of the regional league after losing 59-50 to New Cambell who were crowned champions.
Essex Open 50 New Cambell 59
Following their defeat to New Cambell, Essex Open find themselves in division 2 next year. The game also saw New Cambell crowned as champions.
In many ways the game summed up the season for Essex. They only have themselves to blame for their relegation. In many games Essex have found themselves in front only to see the game slip from their grasp.
Essex started off the game playing fast paced netball and enjoying lots of possession. Johanne Linehan, Rebecca Wilks and Nicole Alves dominated the centre court and Leah Hayzelden and Maddie Oshodi were both accurate with their shooting. Such was the Essex dominance that they found themselves 9-2 up midway through the first half. The second part of the quarter was fairly even and at the end of it Essex held a deserved 17-12 lead.
However once again Essex displayed their inability to hold on to a lead. In the first part of the second quarter Essex were unrecognisable from their performance in the first. Sloppy passing, careless errors allowed New Cambell to dominate. Jasmin Odeogberin and Emma Thorogood were finding it difficult to defend as Essex were frequently conceding possession.
The second quarter saw Essex lose a 5 goal lead as New Cambell went into the half time interval with a 31-27 lead.
Despite starting the quarter slowly Essex managed to claw their way back into the game and reduce the deficit to 2 as they trailed 35-33. However as soon as Essex got back into the match they started making careless mistakes again. As a result with a quarter to go Essex trailed 46-39. Once again in the last quarter Essex played some good netball and reduced the arrear to 5.However the end of the game saw Essex fall away with Jasmin Odeogberin receiving a 2 minute suspension , Essex conceded 5 goals without response.
Although relegated there have been times in each game where Essex have dominated but they have been very inconsistent and will need to work hard to get back up at the first time of asking.

Odeogberrin, Thorogood, Linehan, Mead, Alves, R Wilks, Hayzelden, Oshodi, sefton and N Wilks