Monday night finally saw the return to court for the Honiton Netball League, writes Louise Hastie.

A series of friendlies has been arranged by the league in the run up to Christmas with the league proper starting in January, 2020.

Sidmouth Netball Club are fielding two teams in the coming weeks made up of an amalgamation of their three league teams.

First to take to the court last night were Sidmouth One, captained by Immy Hewitt. They were up against another amalgamated team from Honiton Netball Club, Hot T’s, led by local player Cara Monahgan.

The first quarter saw the team settle into the game developing a confidence that they weren’t showing pre match.

The team, who struggled all last season to find a defensive partnership having lost their go to GD Millie Parry to injury, came into their own in this game.

Jess Truman, as GK, showed quick hand-and-eye coordination to get the intercepts and disrupt the Hot T’s shooters.

Paired with an assertive Emily Rich (GD), the pair proved a formidable partnership in the D and their team ended the first quarter sporting a two-goal lead.

Going into the second quarter the new players to the squad really showed their worth, Lauren Chown, at WA, proved unstoppable mid-court and showed consistently that she could be relied upon to be exactly where she was needed at all times.

Another new player to the squad, Maddy Johnson, made her debut and she wore the GA bib with aplomb, showing confident game sense from the start, mixing up the movement in the D and using all of the space to fool the opposition and gain possession of the ball.

Going into half-time the team were still one goal ahead.

After the break, Hot T’s had obviously been rattled and came back on court looking to take control of the game.

Alice Welland (WD) and Immy Hewitt (C) proved to be the ‘workhorses’ of the team, but had the stamina and experience to keep possession of the ball midcourt to progress the ball towards goal.

Both centre court players were tireless hunting down intercepts and looking for opportunities. However, the third quarter ended with the team two goals in arrears.

After some strategic position changes by captain Immy Hewitt during the final break, the team began the final quarter strongly.

Darcy Hastie (GA) and Siona John (GS) worked well together and are beginning to develop a real understanding as a shooting partnership.

Both players served up some superb long throws. With some accurate feeds into the D from Maddy Johnson (WA) and Immy Hewitt (C), and some steely defence at the back of the court, the game finished 25-25. A great game to start the new season!