Thunder beat Lightning to complete unbeaten regular season

With the Pride festival theme, multi coloured hair and supporting Drag act Annabelle Lector pumping the crowd up, the atmosphere was bouncing and Thunder were raring to go as they went into the final game of the normal season.

Loughborough Lightning secured their play-off spot soon after the Mancunian team and have held onto second in the table throughout.

That meant that this match could be potentially be a test for the Grand Final down in London should both Thunder and Lightning win their semi finals on 3rd June.

The first centre pass was Thunder’s but Lightning instantly got a turnover and set the tone for how the game was going to go with the tenacity and drive; Lightning weren’t going to be intimidated by Thunder’s perfection so far.

With Shadine van der Merwe on the bench, Emilia Roscoe took the goal defence role and literally ran with it, stepping up to the plate when needed.

It was however a game of both ends and the first quarter ended 20-19 with the Black and Yellows just eeking out an extra goal to take the lead.

It wasn't until quarter two where we saw just how quick both teams can add to the scoreboard and increase the gap. But the northern grit and determination kept Thunder going, with their heads down, the home side powered through to see the score slowly but surely increase.

At half time, and with a score of 39-35 to Thunder, captain Laura Malcolm still wasn’t happy at the mistakes Thunder were doing, giving Lightning easy ball.

Quarters three and four was where we saw true resilience of the team, and keeping calm under the intense pressure that Lightning continued to apply.

The score kept fluctuating but the Black and Yellows held their ground, much to the pleasure of the screaming Thunder fans flooding the stands.

When the final whistle went and a more healthier final score of 71 – 63 showed their sense of relief and then the celebrations began at maintaining that golden ‘undefeated’ status.

Report from Manchester Thunder