East Kilbride star Nicola McCleery reckons three wins on the bounce shows Strathclyde Sirens are ready to compete for honours in the Vitality Netball Superleague.
Sirens lost their opening match 53-36 to Manchester Thunder, but followed that up with wins over Severn Stars (36-30), Celtic Dragons (52-35) and London Pulse (35-50) to leave them fifth in the table, but level on nine points with Saracens Mavericks, Team Bath and Thunder, with Loughborough Lightning three points ahead, but having played five times.
McCleery says grabbing three successive wins for the first time ever has been long time coming, but richly deserved.
“It has been a great start for us,” she said.
“It’s the first time in our club’s history that we’ve been able to get three wins in a row, so I think we can take massive confidence from that.
“I’ve been with the club for all five seasons, so I was saying to the girls that it has been a long time coming.
“We’ve built quite good momentum over the last few games, so it’s an exciting prospect for us, going forward.
“In the very first game we knew it was going to be a challenge. With Thunder being reigning champions we knew it was going to be tough.
“But we won that first quarter and really put our stamp on the league, which was really good, just for folk to see that we’re here to compete this year.
“We’ve been able to back that up with three wins after that, so we’re really delighted with our start.”
Nicola, who is a teacher at Trinity High School in Rutherglen, says the whole team are working hard too, with Lynsey Gallagher, Bethan Goodwin and herself winning Player of the Match in the last three wins.
She said: “I was really chuffed. It hadn’t sunk in until after the game when our coach pulled me to one side.
“I’m really chuffed for the girls as well, because we’ve had some really good performances. We have kept building from game to game, we’ve seen improvements from when we’ve started and every week we’re building in confidence, which is great to see.
“The players are really happy with what we’re doing, so it’s a good camp to be in. We’re going well, especially for East Kilbride people, and with Lynsey Gallagher and Bethan Goodwin getting player of the match in the last two, it has been great.
Sirens have the weekend off, before games against Mavericks on March 14 and Leeds Rhinos the following day.
McCleery expects a challenge, but one that will show how far they have come. She said: “We’ll regroup, refocus and get a good week of training under out belt.
“With it being Mavs and Leeds Rhinos, it’s going to be two tough, competitive teams, but we’ll go into it, we’ll be focused and ready, and just excited for what the next few games will look like.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video
