Thunder beat Panthers to close in on play-off berth

Manchester Thunder moved a step closer to clinching a play-off spot in the Netball Super League with a confident 69-45 win over Birmingham Panthers. Thunder raced out of the blocks at Belle Vue in Manchester, storming to a 9-0 lead before Panthers regrouped with a tactical timeout and found some rhythm. However, they could not match Thunder's scoring consistency and a ninth defeat of the season leaves them bottom of the standings with just three points.

Karen Greig's Thunder side stay in third and remain in a strong position to qualify in the top four for the end of season play-offs. "Our word today was execute. Go and execute them with our execution," Greig said.

"We know there's going to be opportunities as we go into these last four rounds where we need to make sure we are happy in possession and take the opportunities where they are. "That's something we are going to keep pushing towards. " Eleanor Caldwell led the scoring for Thunder with 27 goals and three rebounds.

They are now 12 points clear of fifth-placed London Mavericks with four games remaining. Thunder's Natalie Metcalf said: "The girls put on an awesome performance. The Panthers ran us really hard so it was quite tiring, but...