Strathclyde Sirens lose to Team Bath

After some back and forth action following Strathclyde Siren’s first centre pass, Tuivaiti was the first to put a point on the board on home soil. Q1 saw some connected phases of play between Gallagher and Tuivaiti in the circle, Maxwell and Mulheron working so hard in defence that they almost took each other out, and a full team effort to shut down the opposition’s options across the court, however it was Team Bath that was able to capitalise on their turnovers leading the score-line to 9-14.

Team Bath kickstarted Q2 with quickfire passes and a goal. Strathclyde Sirens fans witnessed the first of Tuivaiti’s flair with a fake, no look pass across the shooting circle to Gallagher, much to the spectator’s delight. Team Bath had a tight zone defence which meant that Strathclyde Sirens lost some ball due to some forced passes. However, Strathclyde Sirens were able to seek out some gaps in Bath’s zone to reduce a 9-goal gap to 6 just before the half time whistle, 23-29.

It was all to play for in the second half. Bath gain a couple of points on the board before Strathclyde Sirens added to their goal count. Tensions began to rise, where we saw plenty of tussle underneath the post at both ends of the court. It was clear that both Strathclyde Sirens and Team Bath were determined to bag the VNSL Round 2 win, and Bath maintained their lead heading into the final quarter, 34-41.

Gallagher and Tuivaiti won the crowds over in the first couple of minutes with continued and steady shooting. The atmosphere in the Arena was electric as the full team pulled together to close the gap to 2 goals with 8 minutes on the clock. However, Team Bath continued to edge out and give Strathclyde Sirens little chance to contest for the ball. In the end, it was not Strathclyde Siren’s night with Team Bath taking the win, 45-55 for the first time in Glasgow.

Player of the Match Lynsey Gallagher said: “It was great to be at home tonight, but it was frustrating not to come away with the win. I’m proud of the team for not giving up, and to bring it back to 2 in that last quarter was brilliant, just disappointing that in the last 7-8 Team Bath broke away again to take the win.

 Coming off the back of last week we were on such a high, but we’ll head back to the drawing board, determine areas we need to work on and build and go in to the next one raring to go.”

Starting 7: GS Tuivaiti, GA Gallagher, WA McCleery, C Maxwell, WD Abernethy, GD Mulheron, GK Gibbons.

Subs: Nicholl, Boyle, Goodwin, McCall, McPhail