Dunn and dusted for Premier girls

JUMP TO IT: Oldham's Laura Malcolm makes her presence felt

NETBALL:

OLDHAM’S Premier League One team stayed unbeaten and top of the division with a hard-fought 56-52 victory over a tough Downs outfit.

The Surrey-based team brought with them England international Rachel Dunn and she quickly helped the away side into a 7-3 lead.

Oldham struggled to stop the long ball into the shooter in this quarter, and despite some good turnovers ended it 15-11 down.

The second quarter saw coach Debbie Hallas make some changes, switching Emma Dovey to her more familiar role of goal defence.

The changes worked almost immediately; the added height in the defence causing problems for the away side.

This allowed the Oldham centre court to pick off balls with ease. Wing defence Beth Cobden took four of Oldham’s nine turnovers in the quarter as the team moved into a 28-26 lead.

Hallas made more changes at half-time which made things even better and helped Oldham to stretch the lead further.

The final quarter saw Downs come back at Oldham, at one point taking six goals out of the lead to come within two.

But Oldham dug deep and an interception from Georgie Webster at a crucial point gave them a well-deserved four-goal win.