Leona stars in Thunder victory

NETBALL: MANCHESTER Thunder took a comfortable 59-37 win over Team Northumbria in their opening fixture of the 2016 Vitality Superleague season in Birmingham.

Playing in the inaugural Super Saturday event, where all eight teams in the country’s top flight compete on the same day, Thunder were not at their vintage best, but their quality showed in the final quarter.

Coach Dan Ryan was pleased with his team’s overall performance and relieved to get a win in his first

competitive match at the helm.

He said: “The first game of the season is always going to be difficult, with a big crowd, but I was testing a lot of different combinations so it’s never going to go as smoothly as we'd all like.

“Full credit to the players for getting out there and pushing on in the second half against quite tenacious opposition.”

Oldham’s Amy Clinton didn’t get on court, but has been promised her chance, said Ryan.

It was a dream debut for Kiwi international Liana Leota, who was named player of the match.

The experienced wing attack, who admitted to feeling nervous in the first quarter, said: “I really felt I wasn’t playing that well at first, but then I found my rhythm.

“I think we'll need to work on our second and third quarters as I think we dropped off there.”