Manchester Thunder dominate Strathclyde Sirens’ final game

The Black and Yellows' faultless display gave the Scots a shock, not giving them an inch to try and catch up. From returning Amy Carter’s first centre pass, Thunder went out all guns blazing and continued the pace until the final whistle.

A lot has changed since when Thunder last went head to head with Sirens in round one but one thing was for certain, Thunder’s well known hustle has always shone throughout the season and today’s game was no different. Captain Emma Dovey was covering all corners of the court but every player applied Head Coach Karen Greig’s cool, calm and collected approach which has seen success throughout the 2021 season.

Thanks to Thunder’s ‘B of the Bang’ start, Sirens found themselves on the back foot throughout. Thunder’s Malawian queen Joyce Mvula was ruthless with her scoring despite Sirens goal keeper, fellow Malawi Towera Vinkhumbo, and her best efforts.

Mvula has scored a mind-blowing 650 goals in the 20 game season, a stat that awards her as the Vitality Netball Superleague’s second highest goal scorer behind Loughborough Lightning’s Mary Cholhok.

As quarter three drew to a close, the young guns were brought on to both add to their court time and to rest the legs of the more experienced players, ready for Thunder’s finals weekend. They continued to tot up the goals to give the mancunian side a 27-goal lead over their Scottish counterparts, more than could be said for the recent Euros draw between England and Scotland.

Dovey said: "I always like to look at what I can work on and what we can build on for next week. We knew Sirens were going to be a tough game but we were determined to finish our season strong going into next week and doing all we can to finish at the top of the table."

Head Coach Karen Greig says: "Really pleased, we know Sirens are a tough game. We focused on ourselves and made sure we had a game we could be proud of in the lead up to next week. Necessary to have any bumps to believe in what we were trying to achieve. We’re happy where we’re at, but by no means a finished article yet. We have a big training week, do some PA and see what we’ll face in the semi-final."

Netball UK Player of the Match: Emma Dovey (Manchester Thunder).

Match report provided by Manchester Thunder.