Hurricanes silence Thunder

Brunel Hurricanes staged a superb second half comeback to beat Northern Thunder 48-43 in Bury.

Back-to-back wins for Londoners

Brunel Hurricanes staged a superb second half comeback to beat Northern Thunder 48-43 in Bury, making it two wins in a row for the London and South East side. Hurricanes travelled north to the Castle Leisure Centre with a squad back to full strength and shooter Asha Tett starting her first Co-operative Superleague match for Brunel after missing the opening two encounters through illness. It was the home side who set their stall out early though, starting brightly thanks to the accuracy of former England shooter Karen Greig who has returned to the Thunder squad this year after a season with Leeds Carnegie. Brunel on the other hand missed their opening opportunities on goal allowing Thunder to develop an early lead of six goals at the end of the first quarter. Hurricanes Head Coach Natalie Swift made plenty of changes during the second quarter and then at half time introduced goal attack Lindsay Press. The changes made an immediate impact with Press finding good form and Ricks at centre and Tett now at wing attack feeding with success in to the circle. Captain Becky Nash, now at Wing Defence, shut down feisty Krystal Gayle's feed in to the in-form Thunder shooters and England co-captain Sonia Mkoloma inspired Brunel's defence to up the pressure. In a tense final quarter which saw Hurricanes start the period four goals down, Brunel turned the game on its head. Mkoloma starved Greig to just one attempt on goal and Aussie Jaime Galley picked off some key turnovers.

Combination

The new attacking combination of Ricks, Press and Tett combined well to feed Vicklyn Joseph who had returned to form in the second half and she helped to ensure Hurricanes won the last quarter 16-7, notching up 11 goals from 13 attempts in the final period, exactly the same statistic which Thunder shooter Greig achieved for her side in the opening quarter. Hurricanes showed guts and determination to seal the win by five goals and Head Coach Swift was pleased to have come out on top, stating: "I was impressed that the players worked together and had the desire to turn things around, they took responsibility for their performance and started to demonstrate what this squad is capable of". Sonia Mkoloma, who once again displayed an inspirational performance added: "All credit to Thunder who played very well and stepped up to the mark, but I was so pleased that we showed the strength of character to come back and we worked hard as a team." Hurricanes now face Leeds Carnegie in Sky Sports' exclusive match of the week on Monday 10th November at Guildford Spectrum. Northern Thunder: GS Karen Greig, GA Amanda Evans, WA Krystal Gayle, C Helen Browne, WD Beverley Lovatt. GD Kate Smith, GK Kerry Almond
Subs: Sarah Taylor, Natasha Greenhough, Emma Dovey, Rachael Taylor.
Changes: 4th Q: Greenhough to WA, Beenham to GA Brunel Hurricanes: GS Vicklyn Joseph, GA Asha Tett, WA Bianca Robinson, C Becky Nash (Captain), WD Jaime Galley, GD Sonia Mkoloma, GK Donna Fearon-Ciugureanu
Subs: Elizabeth Searle, Rebecca Gibson, Lindsay Press, Kate Ricks.
Changes: 2nd Q: Galley to GK, Fearon-Ciugureanu to WD During 2nd Q: Nash to WD, Galley to GD, Mkoloma to GK, Ricks to C. 3rd Q: Tett to WA, Press to GA. Umpires: Anne Abraitis and Anne-Marie Peacock, Reserve: Debbie King Score Statistics
(Thunder/Hurricanes) 15-9, 15-10, 6-12, 7-16
Progressive Score: 15-9, 30-19, 36-32, 43-48 Shooting Statistics:
Brunel Hurricanes
Jospeh (GS): 7/9, 5/7, 8/12, 11/13
Tett (GA): 2/5, 5/6 - -
Press (GA): - - 5/6, 5/8
Northern Thunder
Greig (GS): 11/13, 14/15, 4/6, 1/1
Evans (GA): 4/4, 1/2, 2/2 -
Beenham (GA): - - - 6/7