Netball: Steel work on big win for points advantage

Jenny-May Coffin's deft touches helped to wrong-foot the Fever defence. Photo / Getty Images

The Southern Steel are chasing a big win against the Canterbury Tactix tonight, trying to capitalise on an administrative blunder from the Queensland Firebirds.

A win by a healthy margin in Invercargill tonight would see the Steel not only take a two-point lead over their closest rivals for a top-four spot, but likely see the Southern side overtake the Firebirds in goal percentage.

The Firebirds missed a big opportunity against the Central Pulse on Saturday to boost their goal percentage, which is likely to be critical in separating the top four from the also-rans, only asserting their dominance in the final quarter of the match.

The Pulse held a shock 13-8 lead at the first break, and while the Firebirds fought back to take the lead at halftime, the Wellington side did well to keep the pressure on the home team.

The Pulse never allowed the Firebirds' deadly attack, spearheaded by Jamaican shooter Romelda Aiken, to fully unleash and the Queenslanders limped home to record an uninspiring 10-goal win.

The lacklustre performance, along with the Firebirds' failure to bring in a replacement for injured midcourter Sarah Wall, has given the Kiwi sides chasing a top four place an added glimmer of hope.

The Queensland team tried to sign English attacking utility Tamsin Greenway, who played for the franchise in 2008 and 2009, as a permanent player replacement for Wall, but the move was blocked by Netball Australia's eligibility committee.

Despite Greenway now being ineligible to play in the finals, Netball Queensland are not giving up on their bid to include her in the side.

To qualify for the finals, a player must be in the match-day squad for three regular season games - the Firebirds only have two remaining.

Queensland plan to re-submit their application to Netball Australia and, if approved, will then seek special dispensation from the league office to relax its player eligibility rules should the Firebirds reach the finals.

With the Firebirds looking shaky, the Northern Mystics' slim chance of making the play-offs can be upgraded to slender, with the weekend's win over the West Coast Fever giving them extra reason to hopeful.

It was just the second time the Mystics have beaten an Australian side in nearly three seasons.

Mystics captain Temepara George said after a series of poor performances over the last few rounds, she was pleased to see her star-studded side finally fire.

"It's really nice to have a game when we all turned up on the same day and also felt those connections through court."

Rather than attempting to pull off the flashy, 50-50 plays when they were locked in a tight battle, the Mystics waited until they had a handy advantage mid-way through the final quarter before they cut loose.

Which is not to say the Mystics trademark flair was completely stifled. George and her midcourt partner Jenny-May Coffin provided some deft touches with their feeding in to the shooting circle to wrong-foot the Fever defence.

"We didn't have the rush of blood to the head that we usually do when the pressure went on," said George.

"We just played good, basic netball and it worked for us. So maybe we need to keep playing basic netball."

In the weekend's other match the Adelaide Thunderbirds consolidated their position in the top two on the ladder whilst confirming the Vixens season is over, beating the defending champs 54-43 in Melbourne.

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic take on the NSW Swifts in Sydney in tonight's final game of the round.