Senior netball team makes progress in Scottish Cup

Shetland’s senior netball team made their debut in the Scottish Cup at the weekend, travelling to Edinburgh to play three games in their qualifying section.

First up on Saturday evening was Edinburgh Onyx – not an easy task as Onyx have two internationals and two ex-internationals in their squad and are currently one of the best club sides in Scotland.

The Shetland team experienced a display of powerful play from masters of the game but put in a creditable first quarter performance, trailing 20-9 at the whistle. Unfortunately they were blown away in the second and third quarters as their opponents piled on the pressure, intercepting all over the court. The final quarter saw the Shetland team a little more composed as they began to hold possession and play some good attacking netball at times but were unable to convert all their shooting chances and Onyx took the game 81-24.

On Sunday morning Shetland had the difficult task of playing back-to-back matches so this was to be a real test of the players’ fitness levels. At 10am the match against the Edinburgh side Holyrood got underway and immediately the Shetland team found their form with impressive defending and shooting skills and raced to a comfortable 21-9 lead in the first quarter.

The second quarter began with a determined Holyrood team fighting their way back into the game with a closely fought quarter ending 34-21 at half time. The Shetland team introduced fresh players for the second half and this proved to be a good move as Shetland steadily increased the lead in the third and fourth quarters, the match ending 66-39 to the blues.

A quick change around saw Shetland v Stewarty on court to begin their match at 11.30am. Stewarty are a relatively new netball club and this was only their second appearance in the Scottish Cup. Shetland dominated the match from start to finish, netting a convincing 85-20 win. One of the umpires in charge of the match was Shetlander Morag Fox who was being assessed by Netball Scotland examiners for her B grade umpiring certificate. Congratulations to Morag for passing and becoming the first B grade umpire in Shetland.

Onyx took the top spot in the section with Shetland runners up and both teams now progress into knock out stages with Onyx in the cup and Shetland in the plate section.

The Shetland Squad consisted of: Marie Clark, Fiona Dally, Louise Fraser, Sarah Grogan, Vicki Henderson, Kirsti Leask, Louise Moar, Lisa Morrison, Maisie Unsworth, Hazel Uren, Inga Woods and coach Valerie Morrison.