Manchester Thunder see off early Surrey Storm challenge

Surrey Storm asked many questions of Thunder, especially in the first half where Thunder found their skills being equalled by Storm thanks to their quick passage of play. The black and yellows however, dealt with the pressure with their tenacious attitude and forced sloppy errors upon Surrey.

This is where players like Emma Dovey revel and make great interceptions. She achieved three turnovers and four deflections during the first quarter which allowed Thunder to stretch their lead going into half-time with a scoreline of 29-21. Laura Malcolm emphasised how they need to reward themselves for the hard work by not only taking the ball, but scoring it.

Thunder found their feet in the second half of the game and rode the storm. Caroline O’Hanlon had some great takes whilst Joyce Mvula was grappling with Surrey Storm goal keeper Alima Priest to keep the ball in Thunder’s grasp.

The hard work of Thunder’s experienced players gave the youngsters a chance to come on in quarter four all guns blazing and maintain the dominant tone that had been set. By the end of the game, five out of the seven players were aged between 18 and 21.

This is a true show of Thunder’s pathway reputation as all the athletes that enter the court have similar strength to those who have been with Thunder for over a decade. Recent debut star Millie Sanders held her own against rattled Storm players which gave Thunder’s defence a tight line to maintain as the clock counted down.

Mvula commented after the game, saying: "It was great seeing the fans and I enjoyed the game. Teamwork was good, connections were there. It’s part of the game, you can be on and off but maintain when you’re on."

Thunder Head Coach Karen Greig, said: "We’ve had Joyce for five seasons now. To see how she’s evolved over those five seasons is incredible, she’s a mountain of strength at the back for us. Not only does she offer that holding game, some of her movement in and around the circle and the confidence on her distribution, she’s becoming that real complete player for us.

"Our turnover to goal wasn’t great, we were losing our centre pass, winning it back then not converting. We have our own rules that we play by, when we do turn ball over or when we have to consolidate and we weren’t sticking to those rules. We’re always striving to be better in every single game, we just need to tidy up some of our decision making and execution at times. Hopefully we’ll get that complete performance in a few weeks."

Netball UK Player of the Match: Joyce Mvula (Manchester Thunder).

Match report provided by Manchester Thunder.

Watch Manchester Thunder vs Surrey Storm live on YouTube here.