Wildcats Assembly Report VI

15 February 2007

9 November 2006

Watching the Wildcats play netball has become very much like playing a game of cards. Let's start with a Royal Flush - that's Beckie Brown to Cathy Dowty to Danni Mason to Hannah White to Lydia Jeffcoat to score and when that works all you can do is look to the skies and applaud. If that fails then there's always playing the Trump Card - who never lets you down - and that's Rachael Gwilt. And in every pack there's always a pair of Jokers and sure enough we have two . . . . However this match against Dodderhill - the once reputed 'Chelsea' of local netball - was more like a game of Monopoly than cards. We started brightly and attempted the infamous Ballroom blitz - it worked to a degree with the Wildcats moving into a 5 - 2 lead at the end of the first quarter and Coach Shorrocks had already assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. So changes were made in the second quarter which enabled Dodderhill to come right back into the game and at half time it was Dodderhill who were leading 8 - 5. Nevertheless, the support from the reserves was still positively encouraging - it had to be as coach Shorrocks was already writing his letter of resignation! How could anyone turn a 3 goal advantage into a 3 goal deficit? We could never come back from this or could we? The light was fading fast, the ground was getting slippier, we were attacking the leafy end, the temperature was now close to freezing and still we played on. It was then that we really played our Trump Card - Rachael Gwilt. In getting the balls into her faster and giving her more options, she soon found her range and the Wildcats were back at 9 a piece by the end of the third quarter. The job was not done yet but by heck the team was focused. The look in their eyes, the steely determination, the 'Thou shalt not pass' attitude of the defence, the team only wanted one result - there was only going to be one result. Nobody gave an inch and when Lydia Jeffcoat netted the first goal of the final quarter we knew it was going to happen. 10 - 9 soon became 11 - 9 and at 13 - 10 everyone was supporting each other and calling for more potato salad. Dodderhill were now getting desperate and in an attempt to get the game abandoned started a bonfire and sent the noxious smoke over the court. This wasn't going to put our Wildcats off the scent of victory and with 2 more goals in the dying seconds it was the Wildcats who ran out victorious by 15 goals to 10. And as to the game of monopoly . . well, we all agreed at the end of the match that we had just used our 'Get out of Jail' card!!!

The final score - Wildcats 15 Dodderhill 10

Top Cat Award :- All played so well that it was difficult to declare a Top Cat - but it was decided that as the defence in the second half let in only 2 goals to the 10 scored that hot potato Becky Brown should get the award.

Top Cat Awards

JMS (1) v. Cheltenham Ladies
Lydia Jeffcoat (1) v. Kings' U.16 Tournament
Rachael Gwilt (1) v. St. Mary's
Danni Mason (1) v. Alice Ottley
Faye Halliday (1) v. Prince Henry's
Beckie Brown (1) v. Dodderhill

Magical Moment of the match

Watching the tall 6'6” centre who had given Danni a tough time, fall or was it trip over the back of Danni's legs just as the final whistle blew.

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