The Loughborough Lightning face the reigning champion London Pulse in the Netball Super League preliminary final on Saturday, live on Sky Sports – and former England head coach Tracey Neville has revealed her X-Factor for the Lightning.
The two teams are set to fight for the second spot in the title-deciding Grand Final, with the AO Manchester Thunder awaiting the winner at the Co Op Live Arena on 20 June.
The Pulse are coming off a heartbreaking 60-56 loss to the Thunder in the major semi-final, and face a Lightning team buoyed by an impressive 77-57 win over Nottingham Forest netball in the minor semi-final – and Neville has identified one player who could help Loughborough go all the way.
“Alice Harvey is obviously going to come back into the side, and the Loughborough Lightning – with Harvey as the keeper – have always beaten the AO [Manchester] Thunder,” Neville said on the Off the Court podcast.
“If they did get through to the final, they’ve got one card that probably hasn’t been seen for quite a little bit.”
Despite the value of Harvey’s return, Neville is not writing off the Pulse, who won 12 of their 14 Super League games before their 4-goal loss in the major semi-final.
“I think London Pulse’s form has not been where it’s needed to be – but they’ve still finished second in the league,” she said. “They’ve still churned out a major semi like they did.
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“From my perspective, Saturday is anybody’s game. Loughborough have been pretty consistent, but it’s the finals.
This is the worst game to be in on Saturday, because you haven’t got a second chance.
“It’s do or die before you get to the Co Op Arena.”
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Nottingham Forest Netball reached the semi-finals in just their second ever season – but Neville feels it was a case of missed opportunity for the Super League newbies, who fielded a much-changed lineup in their loss against the Lightning.
“I always feel that going into finals you need to be playing with your starting seven. You saw [Rolene] Strueke out, [Jayda] Pekova on the bench – I just feel that it was disjointed going into that.
“They had a tough game the week before against Pulse, and with Loughborough having a tough game against Manchester Thunder, they came in with better form.
Finals show a lot of things – the top three teams at the moment are just so far away from the rest of the league – that is a bit of a sorry state.”
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The reigning champion Pulse have given themselves an extra hurdle to jump over by losing to the Manchester Thunder in the major semi-final, but Neville argues – despite lacklustre defending – they still have reason to be encouraged.
“The Pulse defence – I think there were times that I just wanted them to go harder on that first phase – but I think that would have shocked them, drove the deep ball and then potentially could have won the ball back
“There was no point I thought [Manchester Thunder] were going to lose that game. They were in control of everything they did
“There were some exceptional parts of London Pulse’s game, and when you reflect on it, four goals is nothing at this level.”
Stream the Netball Super League preliminary final for FREE on the Sky Sports YouTube channel from 3pm on Saturday. Not got Sky Sports? Stream netball and more on Sky Sports without a contract.
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