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Photos: Vivan Jayant
Halifax defeated Derwent, continuing their fine form after beating James last week.
The ‘Fax were first to score with Becky Gabbitas pulling off an easy shot from under the post. And after the next centre Halifax quickly intercepted and managed to score again; it looked like the team was getting into their usual rhythm, despite having some new faces on the court.
Throughout the first half Halifax continued to make successful passes down the court into their third however the Derwent WD, Hannah Carter, seemed to cover a lot of area on the edge of the circle, making passes into the shooters difficult.
Risky passes into the shooters and some outstanding interceptions from the Derwent defence enabled Derwent to get the ball down court and score 3 successive goals.
Halifax appeared to panic at this point; it seemed Derwent were settling into the flow of the game. After a lack of communication among players in the first half, Halifax piped up, and some fervent play enabled them to pull the score back to 9-5 at half time.
The second half began with enthusiastic play, each team knew that they were in with a chance of winning. Both teams had a shuffle round, starting with different combinations in the circle.
Play began rapidly in the second half and appeared somewhat frantic at times. Halifax consistently made outstanding interceptions throughout the second half, particularly from centre Hannah Harvey, who managed to claw the ball back for Halifax in mid court and from the Derwent third.
Due to the frustration and a lack of goals, players in the circle from both teams were consistently being pulled for contact, due to grapples for the balls; it was all taken in to be in the spirit of the game.
Halifax had no trouble getting the ball down court however Derwent defence consistently won the rebound from the missed shots, giving them more chance to pass the ball to their end.
Derwent clawed back in the second quarter with both teams scoring just 4 goals, showing just how equal the play was. The final score was 13-9 to Halifax.
Halifax captain Becky Gill, commented that she was “really pleased with the team’s performance today, we did well to keep it together in the second quarter and not lose it completely, as Derwent put up a brilliant fight and made it really difficult for us”.
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