Magic’s season goes on the line

Press Release July 2, 2008 - Magic

Winning rather than number crunching is the sole focus for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic heading into Saturday’s season-defining ANZ Championship netball match against the Canterbury Tactix.

Enduring a faltering three weeks, the Colourplus Magic have watched a comfortable four-point buffer at the top of the table evaporate.

They are now in a head-to-head race with the ever-improving NSW Swifts to seal top spot for the playoffs heading into this weekend’s final round of the regular season.

On equal points, the Magic hold a marginal lead at the top of the table on goal differential from the Swifts but will avoid getting caught up in the goals for and against permutations heading into the final round.

``That’s all too hard to work out,’’ Magic coach Noeline Taurua said.

`` We play on Saturday, they (Swifts) play on Monday so that works more in their favour than ours.

``We can’t go into this game with the goal difference as our mindset. That would mean we are one step ahead of ourselves and take away from the primary focus of winning.

``Firstly, we’ve got to win and then we take what happens after that on the chin…. whether we have a playoff match at home, in Sydney or anywhere.

``Our focus is winning and to do that we have to improve our connections and links on attack. First and foremost we want the two points.’’

A high score while conceding as few goals as possible would certainly help the Magic’s case.

The Swifts, who meet the West Coast Fever in Perth, on Monday, have proved the form team in the second half of the competition, hitting 60 in three of their last four outings. In those rounds they have beaten the improving Northern Mystics and the highly rated Queensland Firebirds, Adelaide Thunderbirds and Melbourne Vixens.

There is a concern the Magic have stalled at the wrong time while other teams are finishing their run home in style.

``The Tactix aren’t going to lie down, they’re going to throw everything at us,’’ Taurua said.

``They will want to have a good finish to the competition, that’s only human. We have to think about walking before we run on this one.’’

A top two finish, which guarantees two lives in the playoffs, is still top of the agenda for the battling Magic.

``In all our matches we’ve had a lot of ball in hand, it’s just finding that complete performance and at the moment we don’t seem to be able to quite do it,’’ Taurua said.

``There is concern that we haven’t quite hit our mark yet but I have confidence in the quality of this group of players to get it right.

``We are trying very hard and know we are running out of time looking for that final piece of finishing, the missing link that will deliver a consistent performance.’’

Jane Hunt
Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic publicity
Ph: 021-107-0287
 
 
 

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