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Surrey Storm hit by Thunder

19 March 2010

stormvthunder

Surrey Storm suffered their first loss of the season tonight losing to Northern Thunder by 59-48. After 9 victories on the bounce one of the most improved sides in the league put an end to Storm’s winning streak at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury.

Head Coach Mary Beardwood was unable to make the trip north so coach for the evening was former England shooter Mel Mansfield who has been coaching alongside Mary this season and another former England player to have played under Mary, Jo Moxham who joined Mel as Assistant Coach on the bench.

Surrey Storm opted to start with Hannah Reid at Goal Keeper and new signing Natalie Seaton made her debut at Goal Defence with Becky Nash starting at Wing Defence. Storm’s Jaime Galley missed the game due to a burn injury but is expected to make a full recovery this week.

Storm have had just a week to bed in their new signings Natalie Seaton and Janet Coulburne and despite Storm leading early doors Thunder produced some neat passages of play to surge ahead to a 16-12 lead by the end of the first quarter whilst Storm made some unforced errors.

Thunder’s mid court of Bayman, Clarke and Henry proved difficult to break down and neat swift passing in to Greig and Beenham ensured that Thunder continued their lead by 31-22 at half time.

England attacker and new Storm captain Tamsin Greenway stepped on to court in the 3rd quarter and Storm started their comeback winning the 3rd quarter by 2 goals.

Janet Coulburne made her Storm debut in the final period at Goal Defence and Seaton moved to Wing Defence. Storm’s new defensive unit and in particular Reid and Seaton impressed but Thunder’s infamous mid court and sharp shooting by Karen Greig proved too consistent and Storm were unable to claw back the deficit with a Thunder side making few mistakes in possession.

It was a disappointing loss for Surrey Storm, their first of the season but the new look defensive partnerships looked very promising and there was plenty of positives to take in to training this week before Saturday’s encounter with Celtic Dragons. Natalie Seaton on her Storm debut stated; “I am gutted that we lost but it was great to start the match and form some good links with Janet and Hannah already”.

Acting Head Coach Mel Mansfield stated; “All credit to Thunder, they played really well and some flawless netball at times. We had some really good moments and three times got within five goals. We just need a little more time to gel our new combinations together”.