Club on hunt for title double

GEMMA McDERMOTT . . . won plenty of turnover ball

OLDHAM Netball Club are chasing a senior title double.

With the Premier League crown already in the bag, the focus is on the North-West Premier League side to clinch top honours.

They are the team to catch after defeating close rivals Warrington 42-38 in a thrilling encounter.

Amelia Hall opened the scoring for Oldham and while errors kept Warrington in the hunt, five unanswered goals saw the local outfit lead 13-7 at the end of the first quarter.

More Oldham mistakes allowed Warrington to score half-a-dozen in a row in the second quarter.

The points difference was four at halfway (22-18), with Oldham having the edge.

Oldham coach Suzy Ashworth rang the changes, with Hall switching to centre, Lucy Shepherd went to wing attack and Sarah Brennan to goal attack.

ADVANTAGE

Struggling to adapt, Oldham conceded three goals without reply as they were unable to capitalise on turnover ball supplied by Gemma McDermott at goal defence.

Feeling their way into the third quarter, Oldham hit Warrington with a run of eight goals for a five-goal lead at 33-28.

All to play for in the final quarter, Oldham quickly stretched their advantage to eight goals.

Warrington refused to throw in the towel, but the lead was too big.

Ashworth said: "It was important to work hard for 60 minutes, keep our composure and stick to task, which we did for most of the game against extremely tough opposition.

"It could have gone either way, but we maintained the lead we had worked hard for and came out with the result we wanted."

Oldham starting seven: GS C Shepherd, GA A Hall, WA A Neild, C E Danson-Chappell, WD A Hazelton, GD G McDermott, GK S Armstrong. Bench: L Stevenson, S Brennan, K Enziano, L Shepherd, Z Mallinder.

Shooting stats: C Shepherd 28/35 80-per-cent; A Hall 9/10 90-per-cent; S Brennan 5/6 83-per-cent.

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