Hearts flow freely

Press, 5 August 1988, Page 48

Hearts flow freely

By DIANNA LESLIE Leigh Gibbs’s initial trepidation about Hearts’ Swiss Maid netball challenge against Central League (Rotorua), proved unfounded as Hearts stormed to a 70-30 victory at the Hagley courts yesterday. Mrs Gibbs, the Hearts coach, had harboured reservations about her side’s chances in the match. “We didn’t know how good they were and we figured, that if they had gone to the expense to make the trip, then they couldn’t be underestimated,” she said.

But Mrs Gibbs’ satisfied smile after the match spoke volumes. “The score difference is a real confidence booster for our next challenge against Pareora,” she said. “We fell off in the third quarter but it was good to see them pull back.” Hearts was relieved to escape without having to face the stiffer challenge from North Shore Rovers. “If we had to play against North Shore

it would have probably been closer,” Mrs Gibbs said.

In spite of the colossal score difference the Central League captain, Rose Savage, was undaunted. “They are certainly not as strong as Verdettes, which we played first,” she said.

“They were not as tough as we expected and it would have been a lot closer if we had got our goals in,” said Savage.

Goals were indeed the bane of the Central League team as it reshuffled its players to try and find one with an accurate eye. Nicole Toina, started the match at goal shoot and missed all her six attempts in the first quarter. Hearts, by contrast, had a superb day under the goal post as Anna Pilbrow netted an impressive 80 per cent of her attempts. Diana Houghton, the Hearts goal attack, completed some telling court work and slotted 65 per cent of her attempts. After the first quarter which Hearts won 17-3, Toina moved to goal at-

tack for the Central League and her game transformed completely. Late in the encounter she started slotting shots from wide in the circle which heartened her team-mates considerably. But the win was never in doubt as Hearts was too classy for its opposition. Margaret Bray, the Hearts centre, released some incisive passing and was on hand for any action. Catherine Dailey and Sandra MacPherson, the Hearts goal defence and goal keep respectively, rescued some interceptions from its solid team effort. Rose Savage completed some good work for Central at goal defence, but its hold was always tenuous as Hearts kept up a barrage of offensive moves. Hearts led 33-8 at halftime, but in the third quarter Central League retaliated only losing that stanza, 14-17. However ■Hearts’s early advantage was too much and it led 50-22 at three-quarter time and continued to hone its game building on its good start.