Cowie Ladies 40        North Sea Tigers 33

 Match Report by Claire Buckley

Cowie Ladies faced North Sea Tigers in their League Netball Match last Thursday.  Going into the Match, North Sea Tigers were sitting 2 places above Cowie in the league, and this was NST's final match of the season. 

NST won the toss up, and quickly capitalized on the first centre pass by being first on the score sheet.  There is no doubt that NST outplayed Cowie in the first quarter, with Cowie being unable to capitalize on many opportunities, and simply not finding their own space on court.  Cowie looked out of their depth, and this was reflected in the score at quarter time – Cowie 5 – NST 13. 

Cowie's quarter time team talk focused on passing and space creation.  Cowie knew that they could play better, and aimed to put into practice the last few months of training.  Cowie didn't let their heads go down, and returned to the court with a couple of line up changes, more determined to play well, and show NST what they were made of.  The game certainly picked up for Cowie in the second quarter. After a couple of fumbled balls and passes in the first few minutes, the team got into their stride, and the teams started to look more evenly matched.  The Cowie defence made some great interceptions which were converted into goals by Cowie.  The centre court players were working very well together, with centre passes working very well. The team were using short passes, and good positioning to keep the ball moving.  The score at half time was Cowie 14 – NST 18

Cowie went on for the second half of the match following some half time changes, and stepped up their playing a notch.  They really got into their stride in the third quarter, and kept their heads throughout.  They converted most of their centres into goals, and strong defending meant that they picked up a few loose NST balls, and made some great interceptions which they also used to their advantage.  In a dramatic turnaround, Cowie scraped into the lead, and were slightly ahead at the end of the third quarter – Cowie 26 - NST 24

Going into the fourth quarter with such a slim lead rightly gave Cowie renewed sense of purpose.  They couldn't relax too much, as they knew that NST would come out fighting. Fortunately, Cowie also dug their heels in and gave it all they could.  Cowie's confidence was noticeably up since the start of the match, and they fought for every ball. Cowie made few mistakes in this quarter, keeping the balls low so as to avoid interceptions, solidly marking the opposition in order to take advantage of any mistakes that they made. Final score was Cowie 40 – NST 33

The final score was a real boost for Cowie, reflecting the hard work that they have put in throughout the season.  The win was well deserved, and hard fought for, and the comeback shows how much the team's confidence in their own abilities has improved since the beginning of the season.  Cowie have their last match of the season against CNR next week. 

Team:  Sabaah Arshed, Katy Boyes, Claire Buckley (c), Vicki Corbett, Laura Cruickshank, Jenny Elrick, Kirsty Forbes, Becky Gordon, Marilena Hossainpour, Janet Owen.