Manchester Thunder deliver perfect regular season after 20th Superleague victory | Netball News

Karen Greig’s side beat Loughborough Lightning 71-63 at Belle Vue in Round 20 of the competition on Monday night; they now face Team Bath Netball in the semi-finals on Friday evening, live on Sky Sports; the Grand Final takes place on Sunday at the Copper Box Arena in London

Manchester Thunder secured their 20th win of the Vitality Netball Superleague season against Loughborough Lightning and go into the semi-finals unbeaten.

On a home court at Belle Vue, the outfit’s trademark tenacity and strength in depth enabled them to get over the line 71-63 against last year’s champions.

International shooter Joyce Mvula picked up the player of the match award, with Emilia Roscoe and Millie Sanders sharing the goal defence bib in the absence of Shadine van der Merwe.

Lightning’s head coach Victoria Burgess pointed to a few errors in decision-making which ultimately halted their chances of ending Thunder’s impressive regular-season run.

Thunder finish the regular season having averaged 69 goals per game over the course of their 20 matches  (Image credit: Ben Lumley)

“The team have been unbelievable,” Karen Greig, Thunder’s head coach, told Sky Sports. “I feel like I say the same thing every week, but these players are a credit to themselves.

“The team talk before the game was to leave nothing out there. Yes, we knew that we were going to finish top of the league anyway, but it was about how we went about that in order to take us into the semi-finals on Friday.”

Thunder will take to their home court again at Belle Vue to face Team Bath Netball in the first of the two Superleague semi-finals on Friday,

“We’ve got a massive job to do over the next four days to get bodies fit and make sure that we put a really strong game plan in place,” Greig added.

“You don’t want to get beaten in the next match [the semi-final], that’s the worst one isn’t it!? The semi-final is the hardest game to get through and we know it’s going to be tough.

“It’s going to be pedal to the metal this week, hopefully we can do a job and then come home with the trophy.”

Loughborough Lightning will be hosting the other semi-final at the Sir David Wallace Arena later on Friday evening. Last year’s champions will be taking on first-time semi-finalists London Pulse.

The Grand Final takes place at the Copper Box Arena on Sunday, with coverage live on Sky Sports from 3.45pm. The match will also be streamed on the Sky Sports YouTube channel and the third-place play-off will be shown from 1.45pm.