Author: Ariella

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

Essex Open lost 56-30 to Billericay at Redbridge Sports Centre today.
Premier Division 3
Essex Open 36 Billericay 60
Essex Open suffered their latest premiership defeat in a difficult season as they lost 60-36 to Billericay. However, the game was much closer than the scoreline suggests and this young Essex team continue to improve.

Unfortunately, as has been the pattern in recent games Essex got off to a very poor start going 6 goals behind before they managed to score themselves. For the rest of the first quarter however Essex more than matched their opponents. In the centre court Nicole Alves, Rebecca Wilks and Jasmine Easterbrook We are fighting hard to gain control of possession. In the shooting circle Sophia Sefton and Louise Acons were starting to convert chances into goals. However due to the poor start they made Essex found themselves 18 -8 down at the end of the first quarter.

Essex were defending well with debutant Charlotte Peters and Le Braya Buffon working well against a good Billericay attack. Essex started to make inroads into the deficit but unfortunately Billericay continued to score frequently making the Essex task more difficult. When the half time whistle went Essex were 18-30 down but I had produced a much better display in the quarter.

In the third quarter Essex made a change in the shooting circle moving in defender the prior Le Braya Buffon to goal shooter. This paid immediate dividends as for the first time Essex dominated the game scoring 8 goals with Billericay managing only 3 in reply. Unfortunately, however an inexperienced Essex line-up gave the ball away too often when they held the initiative. The quarter however was very evenly matched with both sides scoring 11 goals. Going into the final quarter Essex needed a big effort to reduce the arrears. Unfortunately, however they allowed Billericay to totally dominate the game and at one stage Billericay scored 11 goals without response. This undid a lot of the good work that Essex had done in the previous 2 quarters. When the final whistle went Essex had suffered another big defeat but were much better than the score line suggested.
Campbell, Le Buffong, Alves, Peters, R Wilks, Brabrook, Stevens, Eastabrook, Acons, Sefton

Essex Open started 2020 with a 56-40 defeat at Clan.
Essex Open 40 The Clan 56

Despite another much improved performance Essex Open started the year with yet another defeat in Premiership Division 3. . Once again the scale of the defeat could be put down to a very poor start to the game. With five minutes gone Essex found themselves 9-2 in arrears. For the rest of the quarter Essex more than matched their opponents. Nicole Alves, Rebecca Wilks and Rosie Brabrook got lots of possession which shooters Sophia Sefton and Saffron Hancock turned into goals.

With Michelle Stewart and La Braya Buffong defending well Essex matched their opponents goal for goal. At the end of the first quarter The Clan held a 17-11 lead.

Essex made a number of changes at the end of the first quarter and unfortunately it took the team a little while to adjust. Seven quick goals from The Clan gave them an almost insurmountable lead. However once again Essex fought back well with Lola Stevens enjoying court time on her return from injury.

Louise Acons and Jasmine Eastabrook were also on court and once again towards the end of the quarter Essex more the matched their opponents. At half-time Essex trailed 33-23.

Essex needed to start the second half well to have any chance of salvaging victory from this game. However as with the other quarters Essex started slowly and allowed the Clan to extend their lead. However Essex refused to accept defeat and continued to fight for every ball. unfortunately due to the poor start The Clan were able to extend their lead to 47-31 at the end of the third quarter.

The last quarter was a scrappy affair in which Essex held the upper hand. For the first time in the game Essex started well scoring 3 goals without response. At the end of the game Essex was soundly beaten but this was a much better performance from a young and improving line up.

Stewart, Buffong, Alves, R. Wilks, Brabrook, Hancock, Sefton, Stevens, Eastabrook, Acons