Manchester Thunder Finish Third in Superleague

Manchester Thunder, the north west’s top netball team finished third in the National Superleague last weekend after winning their third place playoff against Yorkshire Jets.

Thunder were playing in the playoff after a shock loss to Hertfordshire Mavericks in the Superleague semi-final the weekend before. After a season without a single defeat, Thunder were expected to battle a strong Mavericks team to victory, in the hope of emulating last year’s Superleague win. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

The Manchester Arena played host to the semi-final match, which held in front of 4,100 eager netball fans – the biggest crowd for a domestic netball match in the north west. The match was hotly contested, as was expected, with some tight marking and close contests for the ball. Thunder stayed within reach of Mavericks for most of the game. However, Mavericks streaked ahead in the final quarter to win 48-41.

The team was clearly very disappointed to lose the most important match of the season, especially considering how well they performed leading up to the game.

It was therefore the third place playoff match against local rivals, Yorkshire Jets at the Copperbox that was to be Thunder’s final match of the season.

This was another incredibly close match, with Thunder just edging it in the final quarter to win 55-49, securing the third place finish.

Superleague victory lay with Surrey Storm, who beat the Mavericks to the title on Saturday.

Semi-Finals:

Manchester Thunder (41) V Hertfordshire Mavericks (48)
Surrey Storm (76) V Yorkshire Jets (60)

Final:

Hertfordshire Mavericks (39) V Surrey Storm (56)