England’s netballers are “doing it for Layla” after they smashed Samoa 90-24 with their key defender forced to watch them from the sidelines.
The Roses’ wing defence had limped from the M&S Bank arena just 11 minutes into England’s 70-34 dismissal of Scotland yesterday and was heard telling her team mates: “That’s it. I’m done.”
Star shooter Jo Harten revealed she spent the evening before today's match in tears after it was confirmed that Guscoth had ruptured her Achilles tendon.
But she was the first to prove Guscoth’s absence was a motivating rather than a distracting factor for England after she sunk an awesome 39-in-a-row for a rampant Roses who were just too much for the South Pacific side.
England had looked nervy initially. A couple of passes flew wildly off-the-mark, including a Serena Guthrie centre pass to Helen Housby that went unreceived and a ball from Jo Harten to Chelsea Pitman that went straight to a Samoan player.
At times it looked as though the England players feared another injury to their now shrunken squad ahead of the tournament's most testing stages and all eyes were on every player who took a knock, rubbed a limb or ended up on the floor.
But once the Commonwealth champions settled they were a class apart from the world number 14 Samoans and, with the exception of a stunning rejection of a Natalie Haythornthwaite attempt on goal, their opponents struggled to get within touching distance.
England have now finished top of Group D with a whopping 134 goal difference.
The loss of Guscoth was made even more poignant because the 27-year-old missed out on England’s Commonwealth Games win last year having opted instead to complete her studies and qualify as a junior doctor.
Coach Tracey Neville was visibly moved ahead of today's game, singing the national anthem with her arm around her injured player while Guscoth was forced to rely on her crutches to stay balanced on a bulky ankle boot.
Neville said: “The disadvantage to being a doctor is that, whereas the other players wouldn’t know their diagnosis, she knew exactly what she had done. This World Cup campaign comes off the back of some stellar performances she’s had this year.”
Neville said her tight-knit squad have even drawn a picture of Guscoth on their team bench to show the defender, who spent the morning having scans and tests, how much she mattered to the team.
She said: “Our win today was for Layla. We had a little bit of emotion last night but we woke up today as the team we are. We were all hurt yesterday but today was a really positive performance from the Roses.”
Defender Jade Clarke, the player most likely to replace Guscoth at wing defence, described her teammate's presence on the sideline as "hugely motivating".
"This could make us or break us and we're choosing that it will make us," she said. "It's fuel to the fire. We want to win this for Layla.”
