Can Northumbria Clinch Dragons Double?

The race to finish inside Netball Superleague’s top eight gathers pace this weekend as Team Northumbria host Celtic Dragons in a game neither team can afford to lose.

UWS Sirens stole a march on their bottom three rivals by clinching back-to-back victories last month.

And both TN and Dragons trail the Glasgow franchise by three points heading into the business end of the 2018 season.

TeAroha Keenan’s must win tomorrow's match against Dragons at Sport Central (6pm centre pass) and pick up at least one more victory in their remaining three matches to stand a chance of pipping Sirens for eighth spot.

But the Cardiff club head to Tyneside determined to avoid double defeat against TN following April’s five-point loss in the Principality.

“It will be tough and both teams understand what’s at stake,” said Keenan. “But we’ve beaten them once before and we can do it again.

“I didn’t expect Dragons to beat Sirens on Monday but it’s made it tough for both of us to make up ground.

“All we can do is take care of what we need to do this weekend and stay in the race for eighth.”

A top eight finish for TN will guarantee a place at this autumn’s lucrative Fast 5s event at London’s Copper Box Arena.

And it will mean Keenan and her players have achieved their pre-season goal of finishing higher than ninth.

But the hosts will have to beat Dragons without the injured Emily Hollingworth and an unavailable Francine Hall.

In-form Sophie Hankin continues to manage a troublesome knee injury and Hayley Mulheron is expected to play through the pain barrier as the Scotland international aims for a starting seven spot.

Tickets for tomorrow’s clash are on sale from the Sport Central box office.