Poole NC won their second Netball Cup national finals this season after they had to survive a Super Shot scare at the back end of the game against Bolton NC to claim a narrow win.

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Poole has progressed well as a team throughout the season, as evidenced by their impressive wins over Wodson Park in the YNPL and Leeds Athletic in the YNPL Grand Finals.

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Coming into this event, they finished second in the Midlands Finals behind Sutton Town. They had the chance early on to show their intentions after being drawn in the same group as the quadruple-chasing Sutton Town.

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Poole started the group stage well after a 14-4 win over Sonic Boom. In their next game, they faced Sutton Town, and many thought it would be a dress rehearsal for a potential final clash. What we thought might be a close game wasn’t anything but; Poole was in incredible form and ran up an incredible lead. At the back end of the game, Sutton Town rallied, but in the end, Poole showed the competition that they were here to win.

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After winning their group, Poole faced Bolton in the 1st & 2nd seeding game. Due to their positioning, the only other time this game could happen again would be the final, so winning and taking that psychological advantage into the final would be valuable for both teams. Poole went on to win the game and place first going into the knock-outs.

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In the Last 16, Poole brushed aside Sonic Boom to set up a tricky tie against the Northern champions, Ellesmere Port. What was meant to be a tough challenge turned into another Poole-dominant performance, and they set up a semi-final clash with Sutton Town after winning 12-5.

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After their initial defeat in the group stages, Sutton Town had the chance to get their own back on Poole NC. Like the first game, Poole dominated the early exchanges and went ahead by five points. Sutton Town were struggling to deal with Gee Wilkinson in the shooting circle, so they made a change to address it. Even though they tried changing their defensive pairing, Poole still dominated proceedings, and it never looked in any doubt that they would reach the final. The final score 10-5 to Poole.

Poole face Bolton in the final, and it was a repeat of their seeding game earlier on. The game started competitively, and both sides looked evenly matched. Poole was just more clinical under the post in the first half and scored on the buzzer to lead 8-6 with six minutes to go.

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The second half of the game was a go-for-goal affair. Poole maintained their impressive attacking style, and it was going to take something special to break the cycle of them scoring on their centre passes. With two minutes to go, Lucy Stephens lined up a Super Shot and scored to bring the game level.

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Poole were now on the back foot, and they unbelievably threw away their centre pass to hand Bolton the opportunity to go ahead; luckily, though, for Poole, they quickly turned the ball over to re-establish their lead on their next attack. Bolton could still draw the game but opted for a two-point shot and missed. Poole took advantage and went two points ahead with forty seconds to go. Poole could have sealed the title on their next centre pass, but gave it away, and Bolton now needed a two-point shot to take the game to overtime. With seconds to go, Bolton had the opportunity to shoot a two-point shot, but with so much tension in the room, opted for a one-point shot and gifted Poole their third Netball Cup title.