Newcastle started strong as the circle defenders Farah Hasan and Emily Hollingworth made lots of tips and turned the ball over. This great play meant that Newcastle were able to stay level with Loughborough. In the second quarter Newcastle continued to work hard and contest every one of Loughborough’s passes. Despite Fiona Dewar taking a bump off of Emily Hollingworth and having to eventually come off as a result, the team kept fighting, keeping the score close at 9-11. In the second half Newcastle began to lose their smooth rhythm and their play became more manic. They struggled to feed into the D but the attackers Hollie Joyce and Franky Fenn kept moving and giving options. Unfortunately in the final quarter Loughborough managed to run away with the game. Newcastle retaliated by moving Farah Hasan into goal shooter, but this wasn’t quite enough to take the game. After this result and with Stan Calvert soon approaching, the team will be training harder than ever.
Newcastle knew that this was going to be a tough match especially after an incredibly long bus journey and a delayed starting time. But the team still played hard as soon as they came on court. The centre court really stood out in the first quarter as Laura Brady and Chloe Tindale made countless interceptions and kept Liverpool on their toes. Going into the second quarter Liverpool held a small lead but Newcastle kept playing hard. The defence, Jess Pickering and Caroline Glenn, had a tough game against brilliant attackers, but they kept their heads in the game and marked their players very closely. Even though Liverpool were ahead by quite a few goals going into the second half, Newcastle continued to play with a positive attitude. Steph Garfield was swapped into the attack and made a huge difference with her accurate shooting. Although it was not quite the result the team had wanted to achieve they still left with their heads held high knowing they had played well as a team.
After a strong winning streak, the third team went into the game confident they were going secure yet another victory. The team pulled together from the first centre pass and forced Leeds to make lots of errors allowing goal shooter Molly Macleod to convert all of these to goals. By the second quarter Newcastle had a five goal lead and fought to increase this further. Mhairi Jackson at goal defence was vital in getting turnovers and rebounds which meant that going into the second half Newcastle had maintained their lead. Leeds fought hard to try and keep their own centre passes but Ellie Rutter stayed tight on her wing attack making it nearly impossible for Leeds to move the ball up the court. In the final quarter Newcastle were confident that they were going to take the game but still kept their intensity high playing hard until the final whistle blew. Yet another great performance from the thirds as every week they come one step closer to promotion.