Monmouth Netball Club's first team have had an excellent start to the season and currently sit in second place in the first division of the SE Wales Netball League.

The girls have only last one of their eight games and that was to current league leaders Chepstow.

The Monmouth side's last match was against Newport B, they went into the game having made a few changes as they were without one of their key players Lisa Small and did not have the normal energy they have at the start of the game.

Newport started strongly, taking the lead immediately, and were turning over the ball to gain possession, which is something Monmouth were not expecting.

New summer signing shooter Danielle Jolosa and Nina Booker, playing in the shooting circle together for the first time, were taking time to gel and the Newport defence were applying pressure to the pass into the circle making it hard for Emma King and Mandy Davies to feed in an accurate ball.

The team went into the second half of the game 21-17 down and knew they had a lot of work to do if they wanted to keep their unbeaten record.

The defensive trio of Caroline Owens, Vanessa Ball and recent signing Niki Raine from Ross-On-Wye team Allsorts were working tirelessy in defence, putting pressure on the Newport shooters who were moving hard.

Monmouth stepped up their game and started to close the gap going into the last quarter only one goal down.

The team knew if they wanted the win they needed to come alive in the last quarter and they did just that, playing their best netball of the game.

They did not want to go away away with a loss after working so hard in previous weeks and started to focus, which allowed them to work as a unit, showing Newport what they can do.

King and Davies got the passes into the circle right with Booker and Jolosa not missing any shots on goal with the defensive trio continuing with the pressure.

The final score was 45-35 to Monmouth, with Vanessa Ball taking both the Player Of The Match and Players' Player titles for the second week running for her amazing play in the defensive circle.

Captain Emma King is very pleased with her team's performance so far this season – the best start they have had since being part of the first division – and is very positive about the three remaining games of the first half of the season.

Anyone interested in sponsoring the team is to contact Sally Price on 01600 716335.