Melton Centrals lost their second straight game, but the side isn’t hitting panic stations yet in the Riddell District Netball League.
Centrals started the season with a win against Rockbank, in a game called off at half-time due to lightning, before facing tougher opposition in Romsey and Lancefield the past two weeks.
Centrals coach Randy Pereira said both games were very similar in how they played out as his side was overrun late in the games.
Against Romsey they lost 54-40, while on Saturday they gave up a half-time lead against the Tigers losing 58-48.
“The Romsey game was a debacle. Bec [Morabito] and I arrived five minutes before the game and Bec had to start the game off.
“The second half of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter they ran over us.
“It was the same story against Lancefield. We made a lot of errors in the fourth term.
“We let them back in the game and they kept the pressure on.”
Pereira said with a new-look side it was always going to take time to gel.
“The girls haven’t had a full training session together as some of the girls play netball on Thursday nights.
“It’s hard to do drills. It’ll probably take a few more weeks for the team to click.”
With both Romsey and Lancefield expected to be in the mix come finals time, Pereira said it gave them an indication of where they need to be.
“It’ll be a very interesting season,” he said.
“We don’t have any Victorian Netball League players and most of the top sides to. I think the top four to five sides will be close.
“I’m not disappointed at this stage. We still have to gel.
“When we had the ball we were pretty good, but when we didn’t we didn’t do what we needed to. We also turned the ball over a lot. We had worked on going through the press, but threw five or six long balls which were picked off.
“They are frustrating things.”
Centrals face Rockbank again this week. Pereira said he was hoping to see an improved performance.
“If we struggle this week, I might need to re-evaluate how good I think we are.
“Our aim is still to finish top three. We want to stamp our authority this week.”
In other games, a slow starting Diggers Rest had a big win against Sunbury Kangaroos. Only three goals separated the two teams at quarter-time, before the Burras put the foot down winning 78-33.
Rockbank lost to Lancefield 52-30.
