Waikohu look to have the edge

Strong defence: Whangara Old Girls Nadia Whaitiri-White looks on as Waikohu goal-defence Humaria Higgins looks to send the ball downcourt as teammate Naomi Alovili assesses the court. Picture by Paul Rickard

Waikohu (1) will look to bounce back strongly tomorrrow when they take on Whangara Old Girls in their premier grade netball game at the YMCA.

Both teams will want to start Round 3 of the Pak'nSave competition with a win, but the outcome looks more positive for Claydens Waikohu (1).

On Wednesday night they were neck and neck with the in-form YMP (1) until the last few minutes. Only two goals separated them with five minutes to play.

Waikohu have won both their games against Whangara this season.

They have been playing well, with everyone working together.

To push YMP as far as they did the other night was testament to how well Waikohu have come on this season.

Based on that performance, their work-ons primarily involve ball retention and accurate passing at critical moments, which let them down in the closing stages against the competition leaders.

Tomorrow's game gives them a good opportunity to focus on those key areas.

Whangara continue to be in a rebuilding phase and have struggled to find consistency.

They have shown glimpses of good passages of play, but will need to find those links for the whole hour to push their opponents tomorrow morning.

Whangara lost to Horouta Gold last weekend and disappointed coach Ronnie Martin said afterwards they would have to go back to the drawing board.

How well they have been able to do that at training this week will be tested tomorrow morning at the YMCA.

Waikohu head into the game in second spot on the table, on 16 points, and Whangara lie in fifth spot, on eight.

Gillies Electrical Gisborne Girls' High School leap-frogged Whangara into equal third place on the table with JT Contractors Horouta Gold after their big win against F45 High School Old Girls on Wednesday.

It will be another busy day at Victoria Domain tomorrow, with games starting at 8.30am and the last round going on at 2.30pm.

Netball takes a break on Saturday, July 16.