Shotstopper Creed turns sharpshooter for Masters
ELAINE CREED was playing goalkeeper for the island 20 years ago, but with Barclays Masters short on shooting options, she was forced into the opposite circle as her team collected a rare win in the top division of the Condor Leagues.
ELAINE CREED was playing goalkeeper for the island 20 years ago, but with Barclays Masters short on shooting options, she was forced into the opposite circle as her team collected a rare win in the top division of the Condor Leagues. They edged out the Nerine D side 33-31 as they made full use of being able to field a full squad, just for a change.
Along with Julie Wright, the former island star is one of two Masters capable enough of making it into the island veterans squad for over-35s.
But when it comes to playing two matches in two days which was the case last week, the team tend to struggle.
'Fitness-wise, it shows, as we don't train,' said Creed.
The match against Nerine D started off very evenly matched as both sets of defences made life exceptionally difficult for the shooters.
At quarter time, the Masters led by one goal but the second saw the older heads control the game.
To supplement the strong defence of the first quarter, Masters benefited from good short, sharp passes between WD Nicki Watson, C Vanessa Marsh and WA Teresa Merrien, who then fed the ball brilliantly into the shooters.
Justine Gaudion had now found her form and was popping the goals in from all round the circle.
Nerine D came onto the court for the third quarter showing more determination than earlier and they scored six goals before Masters replied. With GK Maxine Skyner, who earned herself the player of the match nomination, making some timely interceptions, the former closed the gap to 24-22 by the end of the third and there was all to play for in the final quarter.
Nerine went ahead by two goals with some fine shooting by GS Sarah James and GA Kate Seabrook, but the Masters dug deep and their experience, determination and controlled game saw them come out on top by two.
The match against Nerine C (Vets) was a different story.
They outscored the Masters by nine goals in the first quarter, thanks mainly to some accurate shooting from GS Dawn Browning who rarely missed when given the ball.
The final scoreline does not do Masters justice, because they played a very strong defensive game and brought the ball down court well.
Elsewhere in Division One, TCCI quickly found their rhythm in their game against MPR Sarnians Two and with some steady, clean netball, their slick moves were regularly finished off by GS Jan Fazakerley and GA Nerissa Tullier.
Although TCCI dominated the court, MPR Sarnians Two did have patches of textbook netball themselves, with the centre court trio of WD Marie Le Noury, C Kirsty Gardner and WA Rachael Holland linking up well with their shooters.
However, it was not enough to stop TCCI taking the game 53-23.
The top division's only other game saw champions-elect Nerine A enjoy another convincing win over MPR Sarnians One, this time by 51 goals to 23.
In Division Two, inspired shooters Kim Abbotts and Vicky Gill shot top of the table Heritage One to a fantastic 76-14 win against Nerine G, but the other two games in this division saw closer matches, with Nerine E beating Nerine F 32-24 and PWC beating MPR Sarnians Three 33-25.
In Division Three, HSBC used their height and experience to dominate their match against the young MPR Sarnians Four team.
Although Sarnians kept trying, they found it difficult to stop the relentless moves down the court which were finished by the accurate shooting of Nicky Ballard and Tara Masterman.
Sarnians youngster Katie Garnham thoroughly deserved her player of the match nomination after scoring some lovely goals from all over the circle, but unfortunately it was not enough to ensure her team got a point as HSBC emerged winners by 50-22.
