Glasgow Wildcats: Scotland's Superleague Team
Glasgow Wildcats V Northern Thunder
"Wildcats Forced To Dig Deep"
Wildcats vs Northern Thunder
27/02/10
Bellahouston Leisure Centre
By Clare Carswell
The Wildcats' young stars dug deep to rein in the match in the second half but ultimately lost 31-53 to Northern Thunder.
It was a tentative start for a home side that was missing two senior players through injury, captain Lesley MacDonald and Claire Cooper.
These absences gave more opportunity to the younger Wildcats players as coach Denise Holland explained, "It gave the young ones a chance to step it up and see what they're made of and we had a really solid second half against Northern Thunder who I would say are going to be a top four side this year."
The visiting side took an early lead in the first quarter making full use of their England national players, Jade Clarke and Rachel Henry who acted as key playmakers.
Nicola Collins' performance for the Wildcats was particularly strong and her sound shooting ensured a steady flow of points for the home team and limited the goal difference to 9.
Unfortunately the second quarter produced the lowest score for the Wildcats and the visitors stretched their lead to 33-12.
Northern Thunder took advantage of their lead to field some of their younger, teenage players, "What I was bothered about was getting all our bench players on, which I managed to do and I think giving them experience is better than scoring another 15 goals." Thunder's coach Mike Greenwood said.
In the second half the Wildcats shooting combination was changed to June McNeil as goal shoot and Gail Higgins as goal attack. This alteration made a positive impact on the match through Higgins quick thinking and speedy movement as well as June's competent scoring.
The home team only lost the second half by 1 point (19-20) and they displayed some excellent defensive work, "Defensively we grew and grew and I think Claire Brownie really stepped it up today." Holland said.
Brownie was acting as captain in MacDonald's absence. Whether Lesley plays tomorrow will be subject to a fitness assessment.
Looking forward to the next match, Holland said, "It's a big game for us tomorrow against Team Northumbria, we do expect to win and that's a different style of pressure for the Wildcats and they'll be very disappointed if they don't pull that off."
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Last Game 30/04/10
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49-37 | 
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Netball Superleague 08/09
| Team | P | Pts. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surrey Storm | 16 | 28 |
| 2 | Team Bath | 16 | 27 |
| 3 | Northern Thunder | 16 | 26 |
| 4 | Mavericks | 16 | 22 |
| 5 | Leeds Carnegie | 16 | 15 |
| 6 | Celtic Dragons | 16 | 7 |
| 7 | Glasgow Wildcats | 16 | 7 |
| 8 | Loughborough Lightning | 16 | 6 |
| 9 | Team Northumbria | 16 | 6 |
League table last updated: 30/04/10
