The second match night of the Honiton Winter league season saw eight sides from Division Two take centre stage, writes Steph Upson.

Beer Blazers were most impressive in their 48-2 of a Jurassics side that are one of a number of new teams to the league.

Many of the Jurassics team were previously members of the Swaggamamas and they have been joined by new ladies returning to the sport.

Blazers powered into a 13-1 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back, despite some determined play from Jurassics which included a number of skilful interceptions by Karen Bennett. For Blazers, the defensive work of Ash Traylor was of the highest order

Sidmouth Eagles also enjoyed a big win, in their case bagging a 50-12 victory over HNC Honeyz.

Eagles’ centre Kate Marriott continually found good spaces and she was richly deserving of her team’s player of the Match award. Honeyz’ inexperience showed at times with some fumbled balls which the Eagles quickly took advantage of, converting them into goals. Good calling from the eagles GA, Siona John, led to her receiving the ball effectively and this saw further goals added. Em Rich, who showed great skill in shooting and also terrific defensive duties awareness, also shone for Eagles while Samantha Siggers and ‘Player of the match’, Louise Welch, had fine games for Honeyz.

New outfit, Tornados, were beaten 27-6 by Pixies. A key factor in this contest was the clinical shooting displayed by Pixies. The first two quarters started messily with players from the same team running into the same spaces, but as time went on, they found their way and both teams ended up using spacing more effectively.

Tornados made effective short, quick passes but couldn’t always find the net despite Tasha Matthews (GS) and Gayle Snook (GA) working well together to manoeuvre the ball into the circle. In the third quarter, there were excellent interceptions and defending from both sides, especially from Tornados’ POTM and GD – Laura Dollman, meaning the ball spent a lot of time travelling back and down the court as the shooters found it difficult to score, leading it back into the defenders’ hands and once again travelling away from the attacking team. In the final quarter, Pixies appeared to show a new lease of life and scored their most goals in this time period led by their goal attack, Emily Heighway. The final score was 27-6 to Pixies.

The other game played saw Signs South West secure a 37-24 win over Cranbrook.

Signs, who led by six goals at the end of the first quarter, continued to hold a lead, despite some fine attacking and defensive work from Cranbrook for whom Lisa Malton, playing at centre and then wing attack, put in a terrific shift to land her teams Player of the Match award.

Her opposite number, in terms of playing centre, Caroline Briggs, was named the Cranbrook Player of the Match. In what was a superb contest, both teams were outstanding in terms of respect for umpires etc, and that was reflected in each team picking up 10 points for fair play!

Four Division One teams also saw action on Monay. Newly promoted Panthers met a powerful Otters side who, with Lucy Burch orchestrating things from wing attack, were so dominant in the third quarter that they added an impressive 19 goals in the 12 minutes of action! Rachel Burrow excelled in her defensive berth for Panthers, but Otters were worthy winners to a 55-12 score line.

Flamingos were in action for their second game of the new season. Taking on Toucans, Flamingos were quick to take charge and eventually recorded a 51-20 success.

Louise Neilson impressed for the Sidmouth Toucans - she played first as goal shooter and then goal defence, while Karen Hall showcased skilful shooting as GS to pick up the Player of the Match award for the winners.

Honiton Netball League tables

Division 1 P W D L GF GA Pts

Flamingos 2 2 0 0 87 28 6

TNC Otters 1 1 0 0 55 12 3

Sidmouth Chicks 1 1 0 0 49 23 3

HNC Hot Shots 1 1 0 0 48 28 3

Hi Q 1 1 0 0 37 18 3

Sidmouth Toucans 2 0 0 2 48 99 1

High Tide 1 0 0 1 18 37 0

HNC 3 T’s 1 0 0 1 23 49 0

Blackdown 1 0 0 1 8 36 0

Panthers 1 0 0 1 12 55 0

Division 2 P W D L GF GA Pts

Sidmouth Eagles 2 2 0 0 73 27 6

Beer Blazers 1 1 0 0 48 2 3

Otter Valley 1 1 0 0 35 1 3

Pixies 1 1 0 0 27 6 3

SSW 1 1 0 0 37 24 3

JD Tyres 1 0 0 1 15 23 1

Cranbrook 1 0 0 1 24 37 1

TNC (Tornados) 1 0 0 1 6 27 0

Jurassics 1 0 0 1 2 48 0

HNC Honeyz 2 0 0 2 13 85 0

Player of the Match winners: Flamingos - Karen Hall; Sidmouth Toucans - Louise Neilson; TNC Otters - Lucy Burch; Panthers - Rachel Burrow; Signs South West - Caroline Biggs; Cranbrook Arrows - Lisa Malton; Pixies - Emily Heighway; TNC ( Tornados) - Laura Dollman; Beer Blazers - Ash Taylor; Jurassics - Karen Bennett; Sidmouth Eagles - Kate Marriott; HNC Honeyz - Louise Welch