Pulse 44
The Southern Steel bounced back from a dire opening quarter to run down the Central Pulse in last night's New Zealand derby netball clash in Invercargill.
The return of star import Natasha Chokljat, who missed the opening four rounds with a calf injury, proved the key to unlocking the Steel's attacking chemistry that had been so desperately missing in the opening rounds.
The Steel, ANZ Championship semifinalists for the past two seasons, went into the game with just one win from four outings, with their only other victory also coming against the Pulse in round three.
But aside from what was quite possibly the worst quarter of netball seen from the Steel in the first spell, last night's performance was a much more convincing showing than their two-goal victory a fortnight ago.
The Steel trailed 16-8 at the first break after an awful opening quarter marred by basic errors and frequent miscommunications on attack.
But the second-quarter injection of Chokljat, who was playing her first game in Steel colours after making the move from the Melbourne Vixens in the off-season, sparked a resurgence from the home side as they ran down the Pulse to take a one-goal lead heading into the second half. Once the Steel got their noses in front they never looked back.
The round-five clash marked the Steel's first home game of the season at their new makeshift venue - a revamped ILT Velodrome - after the roof of Stadium Southland collapsed in September last year following a heavy dumping of snow.
That forced the Southland sporting fraternity and the community funders to think outside the box to find an alternative venue, opting to put a drop-in court in to the velodrome.
Their new digs came with problems of its own though, with the start of the game delayed 10 minutes after the roof sprung a leak.
It was the Steel that looked to be two-time wooden-spooners early on in the match as they fumbled their way through the opening quarter, committing a string of ugly turnovers as their attack end failed to gel.
The connection between centre Wendy Frew and Daneka Wipiiti looked particularly off as Frew struggled to sight her shooter who was finding good space under the post.
Goal attack Paula Griffin was also guilty of frittering away possession, making three unforced errors in the opening period.
The Pulse meanwhile played patient, no-frills netball to take advantage of the Steel's struggles, the visitors racing out to an eight-goal lead at the first break.
If the first quarter was all one-way traffic, the second flowed the other way as the injection of Chokljat sparked a resurgence from the home side.
Broughton was hoping to ease Chokljat back into action and probably didn't bank on having to call on her so early in the match. But with the Steel attack at sixes and sevens, the veteran coach had little option but to change things around.
The former Melbourne Vixens star proved just the tonic, as the Pulse defence struggled to match her speed through court, while Chokljat's clever feeding brought the Steel shooters back into the match.
Leading 25-24 heading into the third spell, the Steel continued to put their foot down as Griffin and Wipiiti's confidence grew as the match wore on, combining for some beautiful passages of play to frustrate the Pulse defence.
Pulse captain and Silver Ferns defender Katrina Grant looked particularly despondent as her side struggled to halt the Steel's momentum. By three-quarter time the Steel were well in control of the match with a 39-33 lead.
* Last night's other game produced the predicted result as the NSW Swifts beat the Canterbury Tactix 54-45 in Sydney.
