Wednesday night saw the Division 2 play-off between Scallywags and Yell to decide who would be crowned the winners of the pre-Christmas league. Yell won the toss and opted to take the first centre pass of the match which saw them get their first goal. With both teams settling quickly and fighting hard for every pass, Yell’s strong defence of Lesley Strachan GD and Kerry Nicholson GK were not making it easy for Scallywags shooters Anne-Marie Robinson GA and Chrissie Arthur GS, who were having to work hard to find space to convert their shots into goals. Scallywags Judy Hamer GD and Chloe McCloud GK were working well together in defence against Yell’s Stephanie Keith GA and Freya Hannay GS who were rarely missing their shots. Throughout this quarter, play was very even between both teams and this saw goal for goal being scored and the quarter ended 10-9 to Yell.
The second quarter started with a Scallywags centre pass and the home team were having to work really hard as Yell were defending strongly from the start. Yell’s Amber Morrison C and Sandra Petrie WA were linking up well in mid court to get their passes into their shooters of Stephanie Keith and Freya Hannay, making Scallywags defence duo of Judy Hamer and Chloe McCloud work hard to get any interceptions or rebounds. Scallywags Rowan Nicolson C, Rhea May Isbister WD and Anne Leask WA were playing well together in getting their passes up to their shooters. However the strong defence of Yell’s Lesley Strachan and Kerry Nicholson were making it hard for Anne-Marie Robinson and Chrissie Arthur to convert their shots into goals. With Yell’s accurate shooting, they pulled ahead and finished the quarter 20-12.
Scallywags made a few changes, which saw Rhea May Isbister move to GD, Judy Hamer to GK and Bethany Moar come on as WD. Scallywags knew they had to up their game in this quarter if they were to close the gap in the scoring. Play started strongly in this quarter but Yell were not making it easy for the home side. Scallywags Anne-Marie Robinson GA was having to work hard to find space in their circle as Yell’s Lesley Strachan GD was not letting her get close to the net. At the other end, Yell’s shooting duo of Stephanie Keith and Freya Hannay were on form and rarely missing despite being very closely marked by Scallywags Judy Hamer and Rhea May Isbister and the quarter ended 29-18 to Yell.
As the final quarter got underway, both teams knew they had to work hard if either of them wanted to win the match. Both teams showed great determination from the start and this saw great end to end play from both teams. With both teams looking for the win, it was Yell who dominated the last quarter despite Scallywags never giving up and they went on to win the game and the league 38-22.
Players of the match were awarded to Scallywags Chrissie Arthur and Yell’s Stephanie Keith.