Hallas salutes another well-deserved win

Oldham netball player, Amelia Hall

OLDHAM Netball Club took another step towards the Premier League title with a convincing 71-50 win over Oaksway.

The visitors from the North East arrived with a depleted squad, as the effect of Superleague took its toll on their player availability.

It was the same for Oldham, who rested Kerry Almond after the previous evening's Thunder match, and they were also without Kathryn Turner following her wedding a few days earlier.

Oldham started strongly with goal attack Amelia Hall quickly getting into the action, taking advantage of some excellent feeds from Gabby Marshall and Maria McAndrew.

Amy Clinton found her range early in the game and the scene was set. Three excellent turnovers by Emma Dovey also contributed to a quarter time score of 18-10.

The second quarter continued much the same, with the Oldham centre court finding the shooters with ease. Hall was giving the Oaksway goal defence a torrid time and goal keeper Susie Armstrong was starving their shooters of scoring opportunities. At half-time Oldham led 41-19.

Quarter three saw Krista Enziano take to court, with Clinton moving to goal attack. Abby Tyrrell moved from wing defence to goal defence, McAndrew from wing attack to centre and Amy Neil took the wing attack bib. Enziano, as always, was lethal with the long bomb shots, but Oldham struggled to adjust to the changes and lost the quarter 11-16.

With a commanding lead, coach Debbie Hallas was able to make wholesale changes, even putting defender Emma Dovey into the goal attack position and giving Hall some court time at centre.

Oldham continued to apply the pressure and, much to the delight of the home supporters, Dovey scored a credible 5/7 (71 per cent), with Oldham finishing on 71-50.

Hallas said: "Once we got into our stride we were unstoppable today. The flexibility of Amelia Hall filling in at goal attack was invaluable. She deservedly got the player of the match award, also helped by her 93 per cent shooting success rate. We have taken another valuable five points and a giant step towards regaining our title."

Team: GS Amy Clinton, GA Amelia Hall, WA Maria McAndrew, C Gabs Marshall, WD Abby Tyrrell, GD Emma Dovey, GK Susie Armstrong. Replacements: Kerry Almond, Krista Enziano and Amy Neild

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