A WARNING shot has been fired off by Wasps head coach Mel Mansfield after her side’s 44-39 defeat to Team Bath – and vows that the Black and Gold’s slow start will not be repeated.
Wasps found themselves 25-15 behind at half-time, meaning a level third quarter and a five-goal swing in their favour in the final 15 minutes was not enough to avoid a second-successive Vitality Superleague defeat.
The result left Mansfield delivering a rallying cry to her troops, ahead of Sunday’s clash with Surrey Storm.
“It was a really tough start, and perhaps a few things didn’t go our way which we couldn’t react to,” she said.
“To go five down, and then five down again in the first two quarters just gave us a mountain to climb.
“We need to learn things about our team, which we did, it proved that we’ve got a real squad here.
“I was delighted with [the impact made by] the changes, Gezelle [Allison] came on and blossomed in that quarter, then it was time to bring her off and bring Katie [Harris] on to close out the game which was the plan.
“We had to do something different, the mid-court were a real challenge to play against, they didn’t allow us any space, depth or width so credit to Bath – they are a very slick outfit.
“We gave ourselves a lot to do to come back, it’s hard to win quarters against quality sides like that.
“But I did think we were better at resetting and choosing better options than we did last week.
“We were poor starting, and that won’t happen again – I’ve learnt a lot about my team.”
