NSL Match Report Rd 6: London Pulse 63 Strathclyde Sirens 53

HOME TEAM REPLACEMENTS: Scholes, Dekker, Rattu, Keable, Neil

 AWAY TEAM REPLACEMENTS: Boyle, McCall, Tyrrell, Bright

Back at the CopperBox for round 6, Pulse were looking to entertain the home crowd with another strong win.

Q1

Sirens with the first centre pass but Funmi making her presence known early with an almost immediate tip.  Hali and Funmi connecting well in the circle and the attack capitalizing and getting out to an early 5-1 lead.  Siren’s reacted quickly though and pulled that back to turn the lead 5-6. With the rest of the quarter going goal for goal and both attacking ends letting the ball go with confidence the quarter ended with a slight lead to Pulse 16-15.

Q2

No Changes for Pulse going into the 2^nd quarter. A fierce start to the quarter with turnovers from both side.  The defensive pressure was building from Pulse but Sirens were working hard to hold it off. A mid quarter change saw Ellie Rattu enter the court at WD. Ellie bringing strong attacking play as a WD and not afraid to fire the ball into Liv Tchine.  A flurry of goals from Pulse in the last few minutes of the 2^nd half saw the score going into the break 32-29.

Q3

Changes for Pulse to Q3 – Lindsay Keable to GK, Berri Neil to GA and Alicia Scholes to WA.

Pulse attack confident to put the ball over and into Liv and the goals begin to flow. Sirens attempt the same but Funmi and Lindsay’s range means that they do not have the same success.  Fluid play from the Pulse attack with quick transition ball from Alicia and Jade but Sirens doing a good job of keeping the score within reach.  47-42 Pulse lead going into the final quarter.

Q4

No changes for Pulse going into Q4. Pulse get off to a fast start in the final Q – extending the lead to 52-43 with 11 minutes left to play.  Change to Pulse WA as Ash Dekker entered the court and shortly after Zara Everitt to GD.  Rattu continuing to provide cheeky WD feeds into the circle from the transverse allows the Pulse lead to extend to 11 with 5 left on the clock.  A long bomb from Berri finishes the game.

As the final whistle blows, Pulse take the win v Siren 63-53.  POM is awarded to Ellie Rattu

Sam Bird: “It was a little bit flat from us and I really wanted a more clinical performance than we saw tonight, so lots to work on.  We got a taste of what we needed to see from different combinations.  One of our not so secret weapons is the depth in our squad and I think that will pay off as we move through the season.”

Next up we face Celtic Dragons at the Copper Box Arena.  Tickets can be purchased here