Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
With the absence of the starting GD and GK, York always knew it was going to be a tough match. Luckily the versatility of the team allowed Cesca Dessain to shuffle around players to fill the gap in defence. The first quarter was fast- paced with York’s defence Sarah Smith and Georgia Maffia working well to get interceptions and rebounds. However, Newcastle defence was just as tight, their GK in particular standing out, proving it hard for the shooters to receive many balls within the circle.
The start of the second quarter showed much better communication amongst York with better support from Dessain and Becky O’Dwyer. A combination of good feeds into the circle and good shooting by Kay Masterson and Claire Dinan finally allowed York to get into more of a rhythm, managing to bring the score back to 19-15.
York knew that in order to win this game they would have to step it up for the second half. However, the nickname given by last years captain to the third quarter, ‘the Devil’s quarter’, rang true as Newcastle more than double their leadto 40-21. Dinan went down on her ankle toward the end of the quarter and Alia Khalil made her debut playing for University Netball- moving well and creating space within the circle. Fresher Charlotte Ferris made an impact as Centre, with both her and the defence fighting for interceptions. However, Yorks’ heads just didn’t seem to be in it and they let what should have been a close game slip further away.
The fourth quarter saw some big changes as Masterson, usually GS, stepped up as GD and hardly any players were playing their first positions. It was a tough match and York fought hard but as Captain Dessain put it ‘Even though we lost, and it was a great disappointment to last weeks win, the score didn’t reflect our play, we showed great versatility due to our loss of players.’
GK: Georgia Maffia
GD: Sarah Smith
WD: Charlotte Ferris
C: Becky O’Dwyer
WA: Cesca Dessain
GA: Claire Dinan
GS: Kay Masterson
Alia Khalil
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