Victory built on sound defence

NETBALL:

OLDHAM held their nerve to start the New Year with a 37-33 win at Linden — despite missing two of their shooters.

The visitors to Birmingham built up a five-goal lead in this National Premier League Division One fixture at the end of the first quarter and never looked back.

Much of this was down to the defence of Kerry Almond, Emma Dovey and Rachael Taylor, who worked tirelessly to keep out their opponents.

The home side made changes at the break and they had an immediate impact, stifling the Oldham attack.

Several unforced errors on both sides made for a low-scoring quarter, with Linden edging it 9-7 to reduce the deficit to only three goals.

While Oldham’s defence held firm, the Linden backline were allowed too much room and they brought the ball down the court with ease.

Maria McAndrew came on at wing attack for Rachel Henry and Jodie Gibson replaced Dovey at goal defence at the half-way stage.

Oldham pushed on in the third quarter, with centre Laura Malcolm having an increasing influence on the game.

She was strong in her circle-to-circle defence and attack, and was able to link up play.

This helped Oldham increase their lead by two and a buffer of five goals going into the last quarter.

But Linden refused to throw in the towel and reduced Oldham’s lead to only two goals with five minutes to go.

It was a time for cool heads and two of Oldham’s youngsters stepped up to the mark.

Goal defence Gibson made three crucial interceptions while goal attack Kathryn Turner, after an inconsistent game up to that stage, hit form to score five goals from five attempts in the final minutes.

Coach Mike Greenwood said: “It was a good win and we have plenty of positives to take from the game.

“I was particularly impressed Laura Malcolm, who has really matured at the centre position.”