Panthers win for first time against Dragons

Birmingham Panthers claimed their first win of the season with a nail-biting 48-47 win against Dragons in round seven of the Netball Super League.

The league's bottom side had lost their first six matches this season, but Sophie Egbaran's last-gasp goal sealed their first points in Cardiff.

Panthers led 28-23 at half-time, but lost their lead in the final quarter and were trailing by one with 90 seconds to go.

Dragons' Niamh McCall then missed a goal before Betsy Creak levelled up the scores for Panthers.

With the final minute winding down, the visiting side held possession well before player of the match Egbaran scored the winning goal with the final action of the game.

Panthers were beaten 78-45 by London Pulse last weekend, the biggest winning margin of the season so far, but head coach Sonia Mkoloma said they showed "intent to bounce back" in training this week.

"They've got structures in place, they knew what they were doing and they trusted that they could do that. It was good to see we could put out a more consistent performance," Mkoloma told BBC Sport.

"Even I got emotional, because the girls deserved that. In these last couple of weeks they've never given up believing that they can win this and they can win again.

"I said to them, we've never led at half-time. Embrace that feeling. We don't fight it, because you might think it's a negative feeling, you step up, recognising it and naming it so we can feel it again."

Egbaran was Panthers' leading scorer with 22, a total beaten only by Dragons' Georgia Rowe, who netted 24.

"It was so exciting, even to the last second I was really feeling the pressure. Constantly talking to the whole attacking unit, saying, 'We're not losing this game,'" said Egbaran.

"Having a team that's backing you up is just so important. It really makes you feel confident, especially when you're on the shot.

"I can't hide the smile. I feel so happy and I feel so happy for my team. We started off so strong, which is really important because you can lose that game in the first quarter and I felt like we pushed it to the last second."

The Panthers' win brings them level on points with seventh-place Leeds Rhinos, who lost 63-49 to Manchester Thunder.

Eleanor Cardwell, Lois Pearson and Sophie Fawns scored 23, 14 and 12 goals respectively as Thunder bounced back from last week's defeat to Loughborough Lightning.

Meanwhile, Lightning continued their unbeaten season, emerging from a close encounter with Nottingham Forest with a 75-73 victory.

The league leaders pulled away from London Pulse, who had drawn level on points with Lightning after 56-46 victory in Friday's derby against London Mavericks.

Lightning saw off their East Midlands rivals in a tense final quarter, condemning their opponents to their fourth consecutive defeat.

The win sees Lightning restore a three-point lead from Pulse to head the standings with 21 points.

Thunder remain third on 16 points, with no movement in the table in this round.

Pulse hold off Mavericks fightback in thriller

Image caption,

London Pulse have won six of their seven matches this season

Funmi Fadoju and Kamogelo Maseko starred as London Pulse held off a spirited London Mavericks fightback to claim a 56-46 victory in Friday's fixture.

The Pulse were without injured star goal shooter Liv Tchine for the second straight match, but Maseko and Sophie Kelly made up for her absence with 27 and 16 goals respectively.

"When you have someone like Liv out, you do realise we have so much other strength on the bench like Kamo [Maseko] and Sophie [Kelly]," player of the match Fadoju told Sky Sports.

"They work so hard in training to build those connections, it's working so well. I'm proud of the hard work they've been putting in, grinding every single session, how to do the triangles and the screens. They were so good."

Pulse raced into a 12-1 lead with barely 10 minutes on the clock, forcing Mavericks coach Tamsin Greenway to call an early tactical timeout.

Emma Thacker scored three two-point super shots as Mavericks cut the deficit to four points by the end of the third quarter, but Pulse finished the match strongly to claim victory.

"We knew we had a very strong first quarter, but then had to push on. We know we let them back into the game," added Fadoju.

Pulse head coach Sam Bird said: "I'm pleased with how we finished the game. We showed we have a lot in the tank to finish strong."

How to follow 2026 Netball Super League on BBC Sport

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:

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

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