Team Bath netballers prepare for final push

Team Bath head netball coach Jess Garland says her team need to play with ‘real freedom’ as they make their final push for a place in the end of season Superleague Showdown.

The team face a crucial game against Northern Thunder in the Fiat Netball Superleague at the University of Bath on Monday (30 April) night.

The game, to be shown ‘as live’ on Sky Sports, could determine whether Team Bath can finish third in the top tier of the Superleague and secure a direct route to the semi-finals. They can only do that if they beat Northern Thunder and then the other top team, Surrey Storm, and other results go their way.

If they finish fourth in the top tier they would face a play-off against the top team in the bottom tier to reach the semis.

Head coach Jess Garland said: “We need to play with real freedom in the next couple of fixtures. The worst case scenario is that we stay in fourth place.

“We have to prepare to win every game that’s in front of us. I still think that if all of our squad play to their capacity we are good enough to beat any of the other teams, “ she said.

Team Bath matched Thunder in the early stages when the two teams met in Manchester last month.

“We should be confident with the fact that we stuck with Thunder until half way through the game when we played them away, even though they had their big guns out on court.

“We need to make sure that whatever the outcome we come off the court knowing we have performed better than last time, and that we’re building momentum and confidence,” she added.

Team Bath were again edged out of the points when they travelled to Hertfordshire Mavericks on Saturday, going down 52-47. Team Bath shaded the first and second quarters by a goal each before going down by six goals in quarter three and again by a single goal in quarter four.

It was a game that saw Yasmin Parsons return to action after injury and Chantelle Wopara, who has previously played for Team Bath Toucans in Premier League 1, got her first taste of Superleague action for Team Bath.

Monday’s pre-match entertainment gets underway at the Sports Training Village at 7.15pm with the game itself starting at 8pm.

You can buy tickets online via Ticketline or by calling the Ticketline on 0844 888 4412. For group bookings please call 0844 888 4420.

For further information please contact the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or by email at press@matchtight.co.uk

You can also find out more about Team Bath at www.teambath.com , follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teambath or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/teambath

The University of Bath is The Sunday Times University of the Year 2011/12.