adminMzingaye Sibanda Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO netball giants Railstars have derailed Ntutu Sparrows from finishing the season without losing a match after inflicting a 21-29 defeat on the log leaders at Raylton Recreation Club on Saturday. Ntutu Sparrows had gone 22 matches without defeat.
Railstars who are star-studded with players who have Super League experience lost the first leg match by a point and revenge was high on their agenda when the two teams met.
Their coach Judith Mweemba praised the team for its superb performance.
“Like I said before, that we want to get it right from the onset, I’m proud of how the girls played,” she said.
Mweemba believes they can now go all the way and win the championship.
“We have the championship winning material, I believe we can beat any team, so now we just want to focus on our remaining games,” she said.
Her counterpart Ntutu Sparrows coach Precious Mudenge believes the girls lacked character against resilient Railstars.
“Railstars were determined to win from the word go, they deserved the victory, the girls were just relaxed,” she said.
Connie Bhuka’s Mighty Queens beat Jumbo Queens 41-26 while Free Stars were too good for Zimpost as they won 45-21.
Results:
Railstars 29, Ntutu Sparrows 21; Mighty Queens 41, Jumbo Queens 26; Freestars 45, Zimpost 21; Lobengula Queens 50, Zimpost 26; Tel-One 8, ZRP Ntabazinduna 45
Log Standing
P W L D F A PTS
Ntutu Sparrows 23 22 1 0 1405 377 66
Jumbo Queens 25 18 6 1 1079 537 55
Zesa 21 17 3 1 839 33 52
Railstars 18 17 1 0 726 276 51
Mighty Queens 18 16 2 0 932 299 48
Unit Fairbridge 22 12 10 0 714 495 36
Lobengula Queens 20 11 9 0 785 518 33
Free Stars 15 9 6 0 539 319 27
N’zinduna Prison 21 8 13 0 527 645 27
Zimpost 22 9 13 0 609 784 27
ZRP Ntabazinduna 18 6 12 0 335 545 15
Kensington 17 4 18 0 315 795 12
Sobukazi 14 2 12 0 212 519 6
Old Nic Mine 16 2 14 0 148 753 6
Phakamani 14 1 13 0 144 693 3
Tel-One 21 0 21 0 151 1531 0
Online Reporter