Thunder focus on fun in win against Mavericks

Eleanor Cardwell said Manchester Thunder "concentrated on having fun" as they comfortably beat London Mavericks 69-59 in round two of the Netball Super League on Saturday.

Both sides were targeting their first win of the season after losing their openers and Thunder made the most of home advantage at the Belle Vue Arena.

"I think we really concentrated on having fun," said player of the match Cardwell. "I think we were a bit uptight last week against Pulse.

"You could see we were all enjoying it and playing with a bit more freedom."

Thunder took control early on as they opened up a 19-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead to 35-25 at half-time.

They led 52-40 after the third quarter and kept the Mavericks at bay on the way to victory.

"We're still not perfect," said Thunder head coach Karen Greig. "I'm going to keep asking more and more of these girls but we definitely looked more connected out there.

"It was important we put a full team defence on and the intent we started with from the first whistle in the first quarter showed that."

A series of fourth-quarter super shots helped Nottingham Forest stretch away from visitors Birmingham Panthers on Sunday, securing a 68-58 win.

Forest trailed 25-30 at the midway stage, but a third-quarter turnaround aided by player of the match Betsy Creak put them 49-45 ahead entering the final 12 minutes.

As the clock ticked down at the Motorpoint Arena and with the gap narrowed to three points, Rolene Streutker was on target with several two-pointers from the outer edge of the scoring circle to extend Forest's lead to double figures.

With two wins from their opening two games, coach Chelsea Pitman's side sit second in the table, behind Loughborough Lightning on goal difference.

The Panthers, pointless after their first two encounters, prop up the standings.

On Friday, Loughborough Lightning overcame a "tough" opening to beat Leeds Rhinos 70-43.

The win at Canon Medical Arena, in Sheffield, puts the visitors top of the early standings with six points from their opening games.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Lightning coach Vic Burgess, said: "I'm really happy with the scoreline, really pleased with the win today.

"It's been great to see such a solid team performance. Everybody that took the court did exactly what we asked of them."

From 24-23 behind, Lightning went on a scoring streak to lead 37-24 at the midway point and never looked back.

"The first quarter was tough, I'm really pleased with all of the girls' performances," Burgess said.

Lightning co-captain Nat Panagarry, a three-time title winner with the team, made her 200th appearance in the NSL.

In the other Friday match-up, defending champions London Pulse held off off a late charge from Dragons at the Cardiff House of Sport, triumphing 51-50 to also make it two wins from two.

Leading 42-33 at the end of the third quarter, Pulse extended their advantage to 11 part-way through the fourth.

But the Welsh side, who finished bottom of the revamped NSL last year after winning only two of their 14 games, exerted increasing pressure in the final six minutes, led by player of the match Jacqui Newton.

Lightning and Pulse will face each other in the next round of games - a rematch of the 2025 Super League final and this year's Super Cup trophy match.

BBC Sport will show one game per week during the regular season.

These are the games you can watch live on the BBC Sport website and iPlayer:

15 March: Nottingham Forest v Leeds Rhinos (16:00 GMT)

22 March: London Pulse v Nottingham Forest (18:00 GMT)

28 March: Loughborough Lightning v Birmingham Panthers (18:30 GMT)

4 April: London Pulse v Birmingham Panthers (17:00 BST)

11 April: Dragons v Birmingham Panthers (16:00 BST)

18 April: Loughborough Lightning v London Mavericks (18:00 BST)

Televised games in weeks 9-14 will be announced at a later date.