SOME last minute heroics from VU-Western Lightning goal defence Fiona Themann helped cap off a round two thriller against Boroondara Genesis in the Championship netball division on Wednesday.

The Lightning side tied 42-42 with the Genesis after Themann twice intercepted passes in the opposition’s attacking third to help reduce a two-goal deficit in the dying stages of the game.

Fresh from their 11-goal opening round loss to North East Blaze, Joy Grubb’s Lightning were on top in the opening term against the Genesis taking a three goal lead in to the first change.

Genesis took the second term by a goal and the third saw them score 11 apiece before things heated up in the fourth when the Lightning found themselves down by two.

“The final quarter we probably thought it was going to be another loss,” Lightning coach Joy Grubb said. “But luckily enough Fiona Themann took a couple of interceptions right by the baseline on two occasions and we took it down and scored.

“We had another turn over and with seconds to go on the clock we had the ball. We got it through to Julia Knott who got the ball and scored.”

Despite missing out on the full point Grubb was pleased with certain aspects of the game including the fourth quarter fight and the accuracy up forward of goal attack Olivia Cameron.

“The opposition missed about 15 goals and I think we missed about seven. Olivia is really a utility player she can play centre court or goals. She is a very good goal attack because she can feed the goalers beautifully.”

HUME City suffered the consequences of a poor start against Monash University Central in their round two clash.

The Altona based club went down by nine goals after letting the Centrals get out to an eight-goal lead in the first six minutes of the game.

Falcons coach Marg Lind said that was where the game was lost. “You can’t give a team like Monash that kind of a head start,” she said. “We got it back to four goals (in the first quarter) but spent so much energy chasing that down.”

Lind attributed the average start to the game to a lack of pre-match preparation.

“I think they warmed up poorly. They didn’t really start warming up until the last quarter of the div one game. They were complacent. I ripped through them at quarter time; it was too good of an opportunity not to illustrate that they should have done better.”

The Falcons worked hard for the rest of the match and were down by four in the final few minutes before the Centrals stepped it up another gear to stretch the final margin.

Former Australian player Cynna Kydd (nee Neele) put on the goaler’s bib and the Falcons uniform for the first time in the Victorian Champions league.

The talented forward was brought in as a replacement for Melbourne Vixen Tegan Caldwell who will be unavailable at times for the Falcons throughout the year.

With two shots less than the opposition and a nine-goal deficit the Falcons percentages were down but the coach was not alarmed.