With a heavy defeat last week and yet to score in the league we were all willing a performance with some goals for the girls as they met at Bedford Academy for the early game set to ‘kick off’ against Maulden Kubs at 11:45.

MAULDEN KUBS VS BEDFORD TIGERS JADES
SAMPLA lead the team out onto court 6 as the Jades captain following last weeks performance and her continual focus in training, the game got underway only to find within a couple of minutes our captain having to be substituted to treat a small blood wound to the knee. On came DE LUCA who was finding herself in space a lot early on in the first quarter.
Interceptions came in bunches early on for Jades which enabled a few attempts at goal without success, to see the quarter close out 0-0.

The second quarter started as the first finished with plenty of chances coming in the way of the Kubs goal until persistence paid off with a short pass in the D found PARKINSON who neatly converted the opportunity in the 7th minute.

Maulden Kub 0 Bedford Tigers Jades 1

With a glimpse of light and the dominant play in favour of Jades, this did not last long. A rare attack from the Kubs directly from centre saw their GS finish clinically to draw them back level instantly.

Maulden Kubs 1 Bedford Tigers Jades 1

The third quarter was inundated with attempt after attempt, rebound after rebound. Jades finding the space in the D through a pairing of TOMKINSON and RUSSELL but the could not finish the move. PARKINSON orchestrating play in the middle as she had done for most of the game, gathering the ball and being in the right position to feed the forward line.
Penalties came and went for Tigers but the 3rd quarter concluded with no score and still all to play for at 1-1.
An incident at the end of the quarter saw DEBNAM role her ankle and a quick re-shuffle bringing RUSSELL back on from the bench to finish off the final quarter in replacement.

Not long into the final quarter, through persistent probing into the D and following a few rebounded efforts, the ball was collected by SAMPLA who kept her composure to find the winning score.
SAMPLA again found another goal just minutes later following some quick movement and a silky one two with GRANT-JONES, if it wasn’t for the whistle to be blown for ‘footwork’ at the last hurdle.

As the final whistle came and their first win in Division 3, their didn’t seem to believe it rather then jubilant celebrations but the smiles soon came and this result was exactly what they needed to build their confidence.

Maulden Kubs 1 Bedford Tigers 2

MAULDEN KITTENS VS BEDFORD TIGERS JADES
With less then 10 minutes until their second game, Jades were straight onto court 4 to face yet another Maulden side. Maulden Kittens were not going to be the same side Jades faced just moments ago. This was going to be a different experience.

A game mostly dominated by the Kittens from start to end but there were building blocks which came through in Jades performance; PARKINSON taking on the coaching from game one was using the width and getting into spaces on the flanks to provide good outlets and the gathering from attempts at the Jades goal made some positive steps forward.
Large periods of the game were dominated by a energetic and experienced Centre from Maulden, creating chance after chance and Jades showed some resilience to keep the score down to just 2.
The performance was not short of effort with players throwing themselves in the way at every window, TOMKINSON dragging herself off the floor after a tumble to soldier on towards the dying minutes of the game.
It all ended just as Jades most exciting passage of play played out, a series of passes strung together to GRANT-JONES under the net…typically the whistle goes.

Maulden Kittens 2 Bedford Tigers Jades 0

So… not the finish Jades wanted but a great high, securing their first win and real signs of development amongst the team. This success will surely bring the girls closer together and make them stronger (…if not a little shooting practice on Friday) #GOTIGERS