Netball players shine

An exciting afternoon of netball saw both our U13 netball teams reach the latter stages of the Fylde and Wyre tournament, with the B team winning and the A team finishing as runners up.

The A team competition was made up of two qualifying groups, which meant Arnold could not afford any slip ups, as they had to win their three games if they were to reach the play-off stage. The first game was a tense one against Kirkham GS, a team Arnold had never beaten before. Despite going 2-0 down, Arnold fought back to creep ahead and eventually won the game 10 - 5. Two more wins against Fleetwood HS (7-3) and Hodgson HS (8-5) meant Arnold reached the final stage.

While this was going on our U13B team was aiming to reach the semi-final of their competition, which was also arranged in two groups. Two convincing wins against Garstang HS (8-0) and Baines HS (12-0) got the tournament off to a great start, but a narrow defeat by Kirkham GS (4-5) meant that Arnold went in to the semi-final as runners up.

With both teams in the final stages, it meant an exciting last hour at the tournament. In the A team final round robin, the A team lost their first match 11-2 to a strong Lytham St. Annes HS side but, undeterred, went on to beat St. Bede's HS 11 - 2 to finish as runners up. This was just in time to watch the B team, who had reached the final of their competition, after a 5-3 win against KEQMS in the semi.

In the final the B team met Krkham GS again, and in a close end-to-end game it was no surprise when the match ended 5-5. This meant the game would be decided with five minutes of extra time. With nerves jangling, goals were hard to come by and there was great celebration when Arnold scored in the last minute to become Fylde and Wyre Tournament winners.

Well done to both teams!

Posted by: Miss G Raby
Date: Friday 19/03/2010