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Match Report : Steel vs Skope Tactix - May 10, 2008 Steel 48, Tactix 51
Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel co-captain Jenny-May Coffin admits she’s getting impatient. With two wins slipping from the team’s grasp in as many weeks, the dynamic midcourter has been left ruing what could have, and should have, been, but she’s confident the team has what it takes to turn its inaugural ANZ Championship season around.
“It’s coming – I know people are impatient for it and I probably am too” Coffin said. “We just have to learn from it, and this team is learning. There’s some good stuff – there’s some nice flow through court … it’s just when we need to put it away it’s not there at the moment. It doesn’t matter what we do in the first, second or third quarter – it’s the last one that counts.”
Despite a gutsy performance in its round six clash with the Skope Canterbury Tactix on Saturday, the Steel succumbed to the pressure in the dying stages, narrowly losing 48-51.
With the Tactix obviously still hurting from the nine-goal defeat its southern neighbours inflicted three weeks earlier, hunger for revenge proved the edge when it counted.
It was the Steel which asserted its dominance early, sparked by some inspirational intercepts from co-captain and goal keep Megan Hutton. With Coffin and Liana Barrett-Chase driving hard on attack and shooters Megan Dehn and Daneka Wipiiti hardly missing, the home team earned a 14-11 advantage at the first break.
Ignited by its Silver Ferns midcourt pairing of Maree Bowden and Julie Seymour, the Tactix upped the ante and was rewarded for its tenacity, leveling the score constantly before a late surge gave the Steel a slight 26-24 buffer at halftime.
The battle continued in the second half with both teams refusing to give an inch until the Tactix finally managed to snatch the lead and put Steel on the backfoot. Forced to contend with some intense defensive marking, errors crept into the Steel’s performance but it managed to stay in touch and eventually draw level. A basketball lay-up from Wipiiti as the clock ran out secured a slim 36-35 lead heading into the final spell.
It was hardly an error-free performance from either team, but the Tactix simply absorbed the pressure better when it counted – in particular goal attack Jodi Brown, who slotted all but one of the Tactix fourth quarter points. The game turned into Brown’s ANZ Championship farewell as she later announced her pregnancy to team-mates. English international Rachel Dunn will replace her for the remainder of the competition.
The Steel will now focus on toppling the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic in Hamilton on May 19. “They are a tough team but they’re not unbeatable and we have to go into that game with that attitude,” Coffin said. “If we want to make that top two from New Zealand, which we are capable of, we have to turn it around by next weekend. Sometimes big occasions bring out big games.”
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