Round 7 results:
Loughborough Lightning 72-68 Birmingham Panthers
Leeds Rhinos 60-74 Nottingham Forest
London Pulse 67-52 Cardiff Dragons
Manchester Thunder 59-54 London Mavericks
My highlights:
- Lightning hold on against a reinvigorated Panthers to come out with a four goal win.
- Forest close go to within three points of fourth placed London Mavericks with a win against Rhinos.
- Despite a strong showing from the Welsh side, Pulse remain undefeated as they pushed ahead in the second half.
- Thunder show their maturity to see the game out, but the Mavericks snatched a point to keep within touching distance of Thunder and Lightning.
Natasha’s team of round 7:
GK: Alex Johnson (Cardiff Dragons)
GD: Tash Pavelin (Nottingham Forest)
WD: Elle McDonald (Cardiff Dragons)
C: Nat Panagary (Loughborough Lightning)
WA: Alicia Scholes (London Pulse)
GA: Shannon Mahlik (Manchester Thunder)
GS: Emily Andrew (London Mavericks)
Round 8 fixtures:
Friday 2nd May, 19:30: Loughborough Lightning vs Manchester Thunder
Predicted winner: Manchester Thunder
Players to watch: Sammy Wallace-Joseph and Josie Huckle
Saturday 3rd May, 16:00: London Mavericks vs Cardiff Dragons
Predicted winner: London Mavericks
Players to watch: Emily Andrew and Alex Johnson
Sunday 4th May, 16:00: Nottingham Forest vs London Pulse
Predicted winner: London Pulse
Players to watch: Iona Christian and Halimat Adio
Sunday 4th May, 18:00: Birmingham Panthers vs Leeds Rhinos
Predicted winner: Birmingham Panthers
Players to watch: Jasmine Brown and Geva Mentor
Natasha’s insights:
Although I predicted that they would be the champions this season, I did not expect London Pulse to still be unbeaten, neither did I expect Leeds Rhinos to be in sixth place. Considering that they reached the Super Cup final, they have been disappointing in the first half of the season. Nottingham Forest and London Mavericks should be pleased with their current standings and both have produced some shocks so far. At the bottom of the table are Cardiff Dragons, who have struggled, followed by Birmingham Panthers, who do appear to be on the way up after their first win in round six. My own team, Loughborough Lightning, have been weakened by the departure of Mary Cholhok at the end of last season, and Manchester Thunder are too not as strong without England Rose Imogen Allison, both of whom have been on court for the Queensland Firebirds in the Australian league. I think it will be extremely hard to stop London Pulse from winning the title, but I do hope that the bottom teams step up their game to make the second half of this season special!
You can catch the second half of the NSL on Youtube, Sky Sports and BBC Sport.
Additionally, if you want to hear more from me, you can head over to @tash_talker1 on Instagram to find my viewpoints and predictions!
