Titans aim to be in title race

In the first of two Grammar School games on Tuesday night, they beat the champions’ second string 60-37 to make it two wins from two so far in the Winter League top flight.

This puts Titans on even ground with last season’s winners Blaze and runners-up Resolution IT Green at this early stage – with both sides also recording wins on the night.

Blaze won their Thunder encounter 71-29 in the following slot while at Les Beaucamps, Rezzers gave their own B team a lesson with a 77-20 victory.

Titans’ match had been a much closer affair, with the under-16 Blaze B side producing a spirited performance but ultimately being unable to hold back their more senior opposition.

Titans won the first quarter convincingly, leading 20-11 in a high-scoring start, although Blaze B gained a better foothold upon resumption.

Some great shooting and defensive efforts from the newly-promoted side made it a better-contested 15 minutes prior to entering the half-time break at 34-21 down.

Yet Titans continued to build their lead and excelled across the court.

Experienced goalkeeper Lorna Hall continued a strong performance that eventually won her player-of-the-match honours and they had also stood out in the goal circle, with sharp-shooter Donna Brehaut heading a strong attack that capitalised on some tricky and swift passing.

The scoreline was 46-28 in their favour with one quarter to go and little stood to change from there.

Titans captain Brehaut, who has enjoyed the early-season contributions of Georgie Fletcher and hopes to have Kerri Brown available following pregnancy, is now looking to push on in their league battle.

‘I’m really happy and it’s great to get two wins to start the season,’ she said.

‘We tried a few different combinations – we’re looking at rotating our attack so we’ve got options there – and obviously we’ve got some tough games to come, but it’s a really good start to the season.

‘We’re always pushing and I think the aim, obviously, for everyone is to win.

‘I think it will again be a really close league – all teams took points off each other last year, so it was very tight, which is what’s great about this league.

‘Our aim is to push Blaze and Resolution, and we came third last year so it’s to try and take points off them and finish as high as we possibly can.’

Keeper Cody Ford and shooter Alicia Bailey both earned ‘POM’ nominations for a Blaze B side who will no doubt have enjoyed the closer match in their bid to gain experience at such a level.

In the following match, Blaze A took over and dominated their game.

Thunder initially struggled to get going and Blaze led 19-5 after the first quarter.

Using a tried-and-tested squad, with goalkeeper and ‘POM’ winner Zola Saunders and powerful shooter Jemma Green dominating both semi-circles, Nena Copperwaite’s side dominated throughout.

They led 35-13 and 54-19 at each following break.

Thunder nevertheless took it quarter-by-quarter, adding 10 goals in the final stanza, with goal-attack Megan Wyatt-Nicolle a worthy ‘POM’ after dealing superbly with the pressure and often scoring from some range.

At Les Beaucamps, Rezzers Green produced the expected win against their B side – Rezzers Black.

Green eased into their game in relative terms in leading 17-8 at the first break, but they scored many more with little retaliation to make it 35-11 at half-time.

Two more excellent quarters sealed the ‘A’ team the result, with centre Becky Chamberlain earning ‘POM’ honours and wing-defence Shannon Carr taking the honours for the opposition.