Finals spot in sights for Railways

Railways boosted their hopes of playing finals in their maiden A1 season, after recording a fifth win of the 2019 campaign when they prevailed over Sonix by 11 goals in round eight on Saturday.

Joining the Albany Netball Association A1 competition this year, Railways have been impressive and firm as a top-two contender after their second win over rivals Sonix.

The result came on the back of a dominant first quarter as Railways leapt out of the blocks to lead 17-9 at the first break.

Kirsten Gault was terrific as centre, providing constant feeds to forward combination Shelby Upson and Cass Cheetham as Railways netted 17 goals to set up the win.

Sonix were boosted by having fill-in Rachel Adams playing in defence and they were able to steady the Railways scoring flow in the second and third quarters.

Tracy Myers and Jennelle Marwick helped Sonix have more opportunities in the second as the two sides scored 10 goals each.

Railways extended their lead to nine goals by three-quarter-time as Kiera Stephen continued her outstanding match in defence and Gault was again the driving force in mid-court.

Another 12 goals in the final term was enough for Railways to score a comfortable 49-38 win as they remained locked in a battle with Narrikup for second spot in the standings.

In the other round eight fixtures, Royals Saints 1 survived a strong final term challenge from Magpies 1 to secure a seven-goal triumph.

Royals Saints led by five goals at quarter time and by three-quarter-time had extended that advantage to 10 goals.

Magpies fought back strongly in the final period as they won the quarter 12 goals to nine but Royals Saints walked away with the spoils, 47-40.

Narrikup 1 pinched second place off Railways after a percentage boosting win over Kangas 2, 60-27, and in the Friday night match Grammar 1 scored a vital 51-31 win over Kangas 1.