Thunder forced to dig deep in Cardiff thriller

WORRYING INJURY . . . Rachel Henry.

Celtic Dragons 51, Manchester Thunder 54
IN-FORM Manchester Thunder left it late to claim victory in the final quarter of a tense Zeo Superleague encounter in Cardiff.

The Dragons built an early 5-1 lead, with Thunder not showing any sign of their recent form.

The 2012 champions simply couldn’t penetrate the Dragons defence and lost the ball often.

The home feeders were finding 6ft 7in giant Lottisha Cato with ease and won the first quarter 14-10.

Thunder coach Tracey Neville didn’t look happy and made early changes bringing on Jodie Gibson to wing defence and former Dragons captain Sara Hale to goal defence.

With a point to prove Hale, aided by Gibson, made an instant impact and started to push Thunder forward while adding steel to the defence. By half time Thunder had come back to one down at 24-23, with Dragons playing like their lives depended on it.

The second half started much like the start of the game, with Thunder unable to find a flow.

Wing attack Beth Cobden was replaced by Rachel Henry, and immediately added more movement to the attack and took some of the workload off Thunder captain Sara Bayman.

With an early advantage in the third quarter, Dragons edged ahead 39-37.

In the final quarter it was still anyone’s game. The ball was flowing again in the Thunder attack and it was going into the circle much earlier.

Shooter Helen Housby and Krista Enziano shone, keeping their composure as Thunder started to build a lead.

A late challenge by Dragons defender Steph Williams on Henry saw the former stretchered off with a nasty knee injury.

Thunder held their own for the remaining few minutes and took the game 54-51 - much to the relief of the small travelling army of dedicated fans.