City West Falcons did what they had to do. No more, no less.
While a quick glance at the scoreboard for the Victorian Netball League win over Yarra Valley Grammar last week shows a comfortable 62-39 win, Falcons coach Marg Lind said it was much tougher than the score suggested.
“It took us a while to get to a comfortable point,” Lind said. “A lot of teams now have nothing to lose as they’re playing out their seasons and are taking it pretty seriously.
“We had a few injuries and players away so I thought we covered that quite well, and I’m just happy to get the win.”
The Falcons led from start to finish, with the forward pairing of Kristina Brice and Kathleen Knott causing headaches for the winless Ariels’ defence from the opening whistle.
Knott didn’t miss a shot all night, while Brice shot at 87 per cent, bagging 50 goals for the match.
The Falcons had the game in hand all night, leading by seven, nine, 15 and 23 at the breaks, although Lind was just happy to bank the four points given the personnel missing.
“We didn’t have any of our regular goalers fit so we had people covering for us,” she said.
“We’ve had a couple of tough weeks with a number of players off at the New Zealand nationals, which isn’t ideal.
“We needed that win to put us one step closer to a double chance, which is what we were looking for. That win has put us in the best possible position moving towards finals.
“Our whole attacking end was very good, as it has been all year … we look like being the only side to score 1000 goals in the season.”
With just three games before finals, Falcons can lock up the double chance with just one more win.
But they will have to earn it, with matches against fourth-placed Southern Saints and ladder leader Melbourne University in the next fortnight.
“It’s a tough run, but it will be a good tune-up for the real stuff,” Lind said.
