Oldham battle on

NETBALL
OLDHAM battled through to see off Surrey-based The Downs 43-41 in their latest Premier League clash at Hathershaw Sports Centre.

The victory moved the club up to second in the table, leaving coach Debbie Hallas extolling the team's work ethic.

“It wasn’t our best performance," Hallas said, "but we showed character to stay in the game and fight when we were down.

"The girls never gave up and this resulted in us pulling it out of the bag in the last few minutes.”

After taking an early 7-2 lead, the visitors hit back strongly to turn the tables and end the first quarter 15-11 to the good.

Effective turnovers from centre Dani Bloomfield and wing defence Rachael Taylor brought the deficit down to only one point for Oldham at half-time.

Changes were then made, Rachel Henry moving to centre, Bloomfield switching to wing attack and Alexa Collier coming on to goal attack.

They failed to have the desired effect, unforced errors leaving Oldham three goals adrift entering the final quarter.

Further tinkering with the line-up saw captain Kerry Almond move out to goal defence to combat the height of The Downs' goal attack, while the swapping of patches between Bloomfield and Henry proved effective.

As the pressure told, Oldham crept into contention and after getting back on level terms with two minutes to go, a creaking Downs defence threw away possession.

Oldham subsequently sealed the game, bringing a big cheer and a collective sigh of relief from players and supporters alike.