History girls!

PLAYERS and coaches of Oldham Netball Club celebrate Premier League glory.

NETBALL:

OLDHAM Netball Club won their third Premier League title in a row — and entered the history books - when they defeated Blades 62-60 in Southampton.

Oldham is the first team to win the trophy three times in the new competition format - and was missing 11 players due to Manchester Thunder’s Superleague game against Bath.

Oldham took time to settle and Blades grabbed an early lead but, spearheaded by captain Rachael Taylor and centre Gabs Marshall, Oldham started to find a rhythm and finished the quarter a point up at 14-13.

Oldham won the second quarter by four goals, taking their overall lead to five.

The visiting youngsters held their own and extended their lead by a further two goals at 49-42 with a quarter to go.

In the final pwriod Kate Smith came back on at goal defence while Amy Clinton returned to her role of goal shooter and Travis at goal attack. Blades fought hard and reduced the deficit to a couple of points at the end.

It was a sweet victory against England under-17s and 19s coach Jan Crabtree’s team, and Hallas said: “I couldn’t be more proud. To win the Premier League for the third year in a row is a great achievement for the girls.

“We have great strength in depth which showed as we were missing 11 players and played with four

16-year-olds. Our average age was just 18.5.”