Coach Chapman salutes team ethic

NETBALL:

FRESH from a month’s rest after the World Youth Netball Championships, Alice Travis returned to Oldham’s Northern League team for the comfortable 62-40 win over Blackpool.

Kate Smith also returned to the line-up and played her part in taking the team to a 21-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Amy Nield and Abigail Tyrell made a big impact when they came on in the second quarter, though Oldham’s lead was cut by two goals to 33-28.

Jess Dale, with some great interceptions, and Tyrell’s long stretch made life difficult for Blackpool to shoot and pass, which allowed Oldham to pick up rebounds and increase their advantage to 46-32.

The local side, with Travis at goal attack, dominated the final quarter, showing a keen determination to chase every loose ball.

Oldham coach Suzy Chapman said: “It is becoming difficult to choose the squad of 10 for each game because of the number of great players at the club.

“We needed to put some things right from last week’s game and we certainly did that, in particular our first and second phase of the centre pass. The main positive for me from this game was how we played as a team.”