Round five done and dusted and the 2022 Telkom Netball League has offered sixty-four nail-biting encounters so far. The Heartfelt Arena hosted two matches this morning, the first match between the Eastern Cape Aloes and the Mpumalanga Sunbirds was a hair-raiser that lived up to its expectations. A tightly contested first quarter saw the Aloes lead by one goal however decision-making came into play for the Sunbirds who made five changes in the second quarter which destabilized the team and gave the Aloes an opportunity to extend their lead at half-time. The Sunbirds re-gained their momentum but fell short in the end after Goal Attack- Atacia Mbuyane missed an opportunity to draw level in the dying minutes of the game and the match ended 44-43 in favour of the unbeaten Aloes.
‘’The girls showed up today. They were so hungry for this game and for a win. You could see from the first quarter that they really wanted to win this game but I’m happy with the performance today. We don’t take any game lightly, we are facing the Diamonds in our next game and we are going to approach it seriously because there are still points up for grabs’’, Sunbirds coach- Thembisile Mdluli said.
In the final game of the weekend, the Southern Stings settled the score with the Free State Crinums following their 54-47 win. Even though both teams had just over sixty attempts, the Stings accuracy handed them an eighty-three goal percentage to win the match by seven goals. The Crinums were without key player- Khanyisa Chawane who was sitting on the side-lines due to an injury but coach- Martha Mosoahle-Sam confirmed that she will recover just in time for semi-finals.
The 19th of June is what teams are working towards as the champions of each division will be crowned and the final power week is set to get underway on Wednesday.
Today’s results:
Aloes 44-43 Sunbirds
Crinums 47-54 Stings
