London Pulse take home win against Celtic Dragons

Going goal for goal, Everitt disrupted this by putting pressure on the Dragons attack causing them to fumble the ball and once again put the ball in London Pulse’s hands. The Dragons response? "Anything you can do I can do too" and their strong through court defence caused London Pulse to make an error. As a result, Dragons WA picked up the ball capitalising on this and bringing the score gap down to 2.

Shaquanda Green-Noel and Olivia Tchine were having a great battle in the circle and it was definitely one we all wanted to watch. The last couple minutes of the first quarter went back and forth, with no team scoring scored for a minute or so; first quarter nerves were showing. The last 30 seconds of the quarter Dragon's GK really gave Pulse’s attacking end something to think about as she took a massive turnover to bring the goal difference to 1.

Q1 ended with the score 10-9.

Q1 felt like London Pulse’s warm up as they came out the blocks raring and ready to go. Pulse started Q2 with so much confidence that Tayla Honey, who had just come on at C, could deliver a long ball from Centre Third into Tchine.

London Pulse defence were making it difficult for Dragons attackers due to the strong work from Keable and Fadoju who had been turning over the ball, making the score 17-11. Adding to that we got to see Lindsay Keable’s infamous tip of the shot during this quarter. Towards the end of the quarter Celtic Dragons made a change to the attacking end, subbing off Georgia Rowe for GS Katrina Short.

Q2 score 21-17 to pulse

Another close first half for London Pulse and Sam Bird made one change for the 3rd with Kira Rothwell at GA . It was goal for goal in the first few minutes of the ‘championship quarter’ but Dragons changed that by turning over a ball and taking it to goal, bringing the score line down to 3. Celtic dragons had a strong 3rd quarter, turning ball over left right and centre.

After working hard to get a shooting opportunity Tchine popped in a goal for London Pulse. Alicia Scholes entered the game midway through the quarter – coming on for Ashleigh Dekker.

This quarter had ‘hearts in mouths’ for the home crowd, as Dragons were winning this quarter. In the last 20 seconds Funmi Fadoju got a major turnover whilst falling out of court, her teammate Tayla Honey backed her up and delivered a fantastic ball to Tchine who gave Pulse the quarter 11-10.

Q3 Score: 32-27

Sacha McDonald re-entered the game at GA in the 4th. Again, both teams started strong in this quarter, but a centre pass turned over by Dragons was turned right back by Keable with a tip in the air. A massive roar came from the Copperbox crowd because they knew what this meant for the Pulse team.

Jasmin Odeogberin came on at WD to add some more pressure into the game, and after not even 30 seconds of being on court she earned a turnover. Soon another change was made with Berri Neal taking to the court as GS. The Copper box gave her a warm welcome into the game and she came on fearless. London Pulse widened the goal gap after Berri Neil threw a swift baseline run and popped her first goal of the game in. Pulse found a new burst of energy and widen their lead to 13, aided by Berri's 100% shooting stats.

Final score 50 – 37 to Pulse.

Atlantic House Investments PoM was awarded to Zara Everitt (London Pulse).

Match report provided by London Pulse.

London Pulse are back home for their next Match on Saturday 5th March when they face Severn Stars. You can buy tickets to support London Pulse at their home games here and tickets to support Celtic Dragons at their home venue Sport Wales National Centre here.

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