Every goal mattered last week as VU Western Lightning booked its placed in the VNL grand final with a one-goal win over Monash University Central. 84659_10 Picture: MATHEW LYNN
By LIAM TWOMEY
AFTER four quarters of seesawing netball, VU Western Lightning booked its place in the Victorian Netball League grand final with a nail-biting one-goal win over Monash University Central.
The Lightning made a promising start to the match, jumping away to a four-goal lead only for the Centrals to hit back during a hard-fought second half.
Trailing by two goals with five minutes left, there was one more twist in a fairytale finish for Western who wrestled the lead back to secure the 33-32 victory.
After winning in overtime in its elimination final the previous week, Lightning coach Matthew Hills was impressed with the fight his team showed.
“It is another situation where it wasn’t pretty but we showed a hell of a lot of ticker,” he said.
“We have had the belief all year. We have got such strong camaraderie and such strong belief in each other. We have had a number of close wins throughout the year.
“That really generated the belief that we can get the job done.”
Western Lightning will meet the City West Falcons in the grand final in a battle between two of the western suburbs’ powerhouse clubs.
Hills said his wouldn’t be changing his side’s preparation in the lead-up to the big match.
“We certainly won’t be looking to reinvent the wheel,” he said.
“We will be looking to do two key things, work on what we need to do to get our game right and continue to build on our strengths but also we will take a good look at them and what they do as a team and see how we can exploit them.
“They will go in as hot favourites based on ladder position and with their results that is deservedly so. We go in knowing that we’ve beaten them once this year and knowing that we have got nothing to lose.”
