It was an emotional evening in Cardiff when Celtic Dragons remembered one of their own at the Sport Wales National Centre.
Prior to centre pass in their Vitality Superleague match against Manchester Thunder the teams, management and crowd observed a minute’s silence in memory of the life of former Celtic Dragon and Wales under-21 player Catherine Roberts.
A Dragons statement said: “The loss of Catherine is a huge blow to the netball community in Wales.
“She was universally admired by those who knew her. An inspirational person, she lived life to the full and did everything with a smile.”
When the match started Dragons struggled for fluency and slipped to a 38-78 defeat against a Thunder team who started strongly, scoring five unanswered goals at the start to stun Cardiff spectators.
There is no time for captain Suzy Drane and her team to dwell on defeat, though, because they are back in action on Bank Holiday Monday.
They travel to Glasgow for their fixture against bottom of the table UWS Sirens – and the teams still have a return match to play in Cardiff next month.
The Scots have earned only one win this season, while Dragons have had two victories.
Dragons’ Kelly Morgan was able to organise the defence after a slow start against Thunder and won a turnover to provide the shooters with much needed ammunition.
Shooting was more miss than hit in the opening minutes, but as Cara Lea Moseley and Georgia Rowe settled into the contest, Dragons were able to get in a respectable number of shots.
Nevertheless, it was Thunder with a nine-goal advantage at the break.
Enthusiastic chants of ‘Let’s Go Dragons!’ did little to deter Manchester in what must have felt like the longest second quarter of the season for the Dragons.
Kyra Jones was substituted and the resulting positional re-organisation of the squad led to a wholesale routing in the second period. Passes went astray and Thunder’s Joyce Mvula enjoyed a feast of shooting opportunities.
Thanks for the support of @NetballBridgend & @AberavonCeltics tonight & penblwydd hapus i Elouise and Ellie 💚🏐💚 pic.twitter.com/gPtaOp0t7v
— LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons (@cardiffdragons_) May 25, 2018
With the game seemingly gone after the half-time interval, when Manchester led 42-19,it was time for Dragons to restore pride to their performance and the third quarter saw a marked improvement.
There were some great long-range shots from Dragons player of the match Moseley and passing was far more clinical from the whole team.
Sarah Llewelyn was particularly effective coming off the bench, did well to collect several stray Manchester passes and moved efficiently around the court.
A tighter quarter score demonstrated the pride and professionalism of the home side.
The final quarter saw Manchester’s substitutes continue to build on an impressive display.
Kelly Morgan and Leila Thomas stuck to their work in defence, while Eleanor Roberts’ shooting was focused and consistent.
Thunder had taken a strong grip on the match from early on and they continued their excellent VNSL 2018 campaign with another victory.
Celtic Dragons Player of the Match: GA Cara Lea Moseley
Quarter scores (Dragons first): 10-19 (10-19); 9-23 (19-42); 10-17 (29-59); 9-19 (38-78).
Celtic Dragons, starting seven: G Rowe, CL Moseley, A Varey, K Jones, S Drane, N Jones, K Morgan. Replacements: C Jones, S Llewelyn, M Powell, L Thomas, E Roberts
Manchester Thunder, starting seven: J Mvula, K Turner, L Leota, C O’Hanlon, B Skingsley, E Dovey, K Almond. Replacements: D Bloomfield, A Carter, A Clinton, B Hoult, S Morgan.
Celtic Dragons fixtures and results
February
Monday 12: Celtic Dragons 49, benecosMavericks 61
Saturday 17: Celtic Dragons 35, Team Bath 54
Saturday 24: Loughborough Lightning 69, Celtic Dragons 45
Monday 26: Celtic Dragons 55, Surrey Storm 50
March
Saturday 3: Manchester Thunder v Celtic Dragons (postponed, rearranged for June 11, 7pm)
Saturday 10: Celtic Dragons 49, Severn Stars 40
Sunday 18: Wasps Netball 74, Celtic Dragons 32
April
Saturday 28: Celtic Dragons 51 Team Northumbria 56
May
Friday 4: Team Bath 66, Celtic Dragons 39
Monday 7: Surrey Storm 70, Celtic Dragons 42
Monday 14: Celtic Dragons 38, Loughborough Lightning 66
Saturday 19: benecosMavericks 68, Celtic Dragons 36
Friday 25: Celtic Dragons 38, Manchester Thunder 78
Monday 28: UWS Sirens v Celtic Dragons, 7pm
June
Saturday 2: Team Northumbria v Celtic Dragons, 6pm
Saturday 9: Celtic Dragons v Wasps Netball, 4pm
Monday 11: Manchester Thunder v Celtic Dragons, (Wright Robinson College, 7pm)
Saturday 16: Celtic Dragons v UWS Sirens, 4pm
Monday 25: Severn Stars v Celtic Dragons, 7:30pm
Vitality Superleague fixtures on Saturday (May 26): UWS Sirens v Team Bath (2pm), benchesMavericks v Team Northumbria (6pm), Wasps v Loughborough Lightning (7pm).
Bank Holiday Monday (May 28):Surrey Storm v Severn Stars (7pm, being shown live on Sky television).
VITALITY SUPERLEAGUE 2018
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | + | – | +/- | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Wasps Netball | 12 | 12 | 0 | 776 | 531 | 245 | 1.46 | 36 |
| 2 | Loughborough Lightning | 13 | 10 | 3 | 767 | 626 | 141 | 1.23 | 30 |
| 3 | Manchester Thunder | 13 | 10 | 3 | 759 | 657 | 102 | 1.16 | 30 |
| 4 | benecosMavericks | 12 | 9 | 3 | 680 | 598 | 82 | 1.14 | 27 |
| 5 | Team Bath | 12 | 9 | 3 | 636 | 564 | 72 | 1.13 | 27 |
| 6 | Severn Stars | 13 | 4 | 9 | 625 | 671 | -46 | 0.93 | 12 |
| 7 | Surrey Storm | 13 | 3 | 10 | 672 | 725 | -53 | 0.93 | 9 |
| 8 | Team Northumbria | 13 | 2 | 11 | 590 | 741 | -151 | 0.80 | 6 |
| 9 | Celtic Dragons | 12 | 2 | 10 | 509 | 752 | -243 | 0.68 | 6 |
| 10 | UWS Sirens | 11 | 1 | 10 | 477 | 626 | -149 | 0.76 | 3 |