Northumbria Scare Stuttering Storm

Team Northumbria almost sprung one of the shocks of the Netball Superleague season as they gave Surrey Storm’s defence the runaround in an Easter Monday thriller.

TeAroha Keenan’s side were neck and neck with the hosts for the majority of a nailbiting clash in front of a capacity Surrey Sports Park crowd.

And only a late Storm surge saw off the in-form visitors and denied TN a first away win of the season.

Surrey’s 65-56 victory was far from comfortable and the visitors led by as many as four goals midway through the third period.

But a 10-1 Storm tear allowed Tania Hoffman’s side to open up a five-point lead heading into the final quarter.

And that proved enough to see off TN’s brave resistance ahead of Saturday’s Sport Central clash against Mavericks.

“If we put in that kind of performance at home at the weekend we can beat Mavericks,” said Keenan. “I have no doubt about that.

“To score 56 goals against Surrey on their own court - 10 more than we scored against them at home - is an incredible effort.

“I didn’t feel we got the rub of the green with some of the decisions. In particular I felt Georgia Rowe got a rough ride against the Surrey defence.

“On the plus side Evie Brereton played 40 minutes against Megan Craig and never let up. We can take plenty of positives from a fantastic performance.”

Storm’s heavy handed approach did draw initial criticism from the officials with Lorraine Kowalewska given a warning for her overly aggressive approach.

Team-mate and Surrey captain Naida Hutchinson was fortunate to avoid a warning of her own as Rowe and Chiara Semple heaped the pressure on Storm’s struggling defensive duo.

And centre Nikki Austin drew cries of derision from the pockets of vocal visiting fans as she tried time and time again to gain an advantage by throwing herself to the floor.

Brereton drew a warning of her own as a feisty clash often threatened to boil over and both captains were summoned to speak to the officials in an effort to calm the on-court tension.

But both sides continued to scrap for every goal and the only surprise was that both teams finished with seven players.

On a day of bizarre decisions, birthday girl Hutchinson won player-of-the-match despite her side shipping an incredible 56 goals.

And Keenan said: “Georgia and Chiara Semple were outstanding again. Our shooting percentages were way higher than Surrey’s and I couldn’t have asked for more in that respect.”