Celtic Dragons Head North In Search Of Superleague Success

Head coach Trish Wilcox and her Celtic Dragons players have headed to the North East of England in search of success.

Dragons have suffered bitter disappointment in their last two Vitality Superleague netball matches, leading at half-time against Manchester Thunder and Hertfordshire Mavericks before being edged out.

Now they take on Team Northumbria away this evening (Friday, 7.45pm) and Wilcox says: “We are competing in every single game and for two thirds of our last two fixture we were right in them.

“Then momentary lapses let us down.

“We went into the half-time breaks putting over a positive message to reinforce the things we had done well, but then we have a lapse.

“The girls have talked about that and reflected on those situations.

“We have been doing really good stuff in the first half, but then find ourselves having to fight back. And the players do fight back.

“The key is that we have to start feeling comfortable when we are in front and push on. That’s the biggest shift, feeling comfortable when we are ahead.

“Every game we go into is winnable. We have talked about going back to what we do well and do it for longer.”

Dragons players have been put under pressure in training this week. Wilcox and her coaches have worked to build belief and confidence in the group.

Defender Lois Rideout reflected on those defeats against Manchester and Hertfordshire, saying: “We produced two really good performances, but just can’t seem to get it over that edge.

“We have worked hard this week to ensure we play well again and get that win we need coming towards the back end of the season.”

Dragons have five fixtures left in the 2017 Superleague season and follow their trip to Northumbria, who are just above bottom club Dragons in the table, with a home match against Loughborough Lightning on Monday, May 15.

Vitality Superleague Netball 

Celtic Dragons’ five remaining fixtures – all at Sport Wales National Centre, Cardiff

May

Friday 5: Team Northumbria v Celtic Dragons (7.45pm)

Monday 15: Celtic Dragons v Surrey Storm (7pm)

Saturday 20: Loughborough Lightning v Celtic Dragons

Saturday 27: Celtic Dragons v Wasps (4pm)

June

Saturday 3: Celtic Dragons v Team Northumbria (2pm)

Tickets for all Dragons home games can be found at www.ticketline.co.uk

Information is available via celticdragonsnetball.com