It wasn’t the result that Bacchus Marsh wanted in its return to Ballarat Netball League finals, but the Cobras walked away from the season proud.
The past few years the Cobras have struggled to even get wins on the board let alone thinking of finals.
After finally breaking through for the much wanted win, the Cobras went onto win 10 matches and make their first finals series in six years.
The experience of North Ballarat shone through in Sunday’s elimination final as they won 54-46.
Cobras coach Nichole Gleeson said it was a bittersweet feeling.
“It wasn’t our best,” she said. “We were struck down by injuries and had to make some late adjustments.
“It didn’t play out the way we wanted and we are disappointed. North turned it on from the first whistle and we were literally chasing our tails all game.
“I’m still so happy and proud of the girls and how far the girls have come.”
Gleeson said to get 10 wins and fifth on the ladder was more than they ever expected in their first season of a rebuild.
North Ballarat has been there and done that before and that showed on Sunday.
It led by seven goals at quarter time and 12 at the half. The margin continued in the third quarter before the Cobras won the last by one goal.
Gleeson said North played a good game which is something they deserve credit for.
She said her side was only going to grow from this year.
“It was our first season together and we’ve got a lot of new players,” she said. “We lost both our wing attacks to season ending injuries.
“We gave it a real red hot crack.”
Kimberly Philips shot 26 goals for the Cobras.
Gleeson said they had the whole support of the club and the group was keen to come back next season and go even further.
She said with player points issues set to ease, the side will have some more depth which was their biggest issue this year.
“If we’ve done this in our first year, what can we do?” she said.
“There’s a lot of growth and I’m excited to see how it goes. Bacchus Marsh are proud of the girls.”
North Ballarat will play the Sunbury Lions for a spot in the grand final this Saturday.
Meanwhile, Darley will have to make the most of its second opportunity.
The Devils faced the Sunbury Lions in a qualifying final on Saturday, losing 53-50.
The Lions led at every break and the margin got out to as much as eight in the final quarter before the Devils were able to peg it back.
Sunbury steadied to make sure it got the win.
