Oldham took part in the North West’s Fastnet competition on Saturday for the first time. The winner of the competition goes through to a finals competition played prior to the World Netball Series at the Liverpool Echo Arena. The event held at the Sugden Centre in Manchester had a stuttering start with several teams not turning up followed by a fire alarm where the building had to be evacuated, leaving the organisers with plenty to deal with. Oldham had to hand around for two and a half hours before their first game but it was worth the wait with a convincing win 24-9 over C&C from the Isle of Man to start with.

They had a match off and then were back on against Chesterfield from Merseyside in a rough encounter but the Oldham youngsters took it in their stride and used their quick movement and skills to again win convincingly 21-10 with goal attack Harriet Gill in fine form splitting the defence apart with dynamic runs into the circle.

The third match pitted Oldham against Blackpool who made the finals the previous year. It started evenly with both teams scoring goal for goal but the Oldham defence of Megan Tann, Gemma McDermott and Amber Hazelton began to assert their authority and turned the ball over for the Oldham attack to take advantage. Leanne Murphy and Olivia Jarvis shone in the middle with surging runs and some great defending in an all-round performance. Oldham won 18-14

Next up was Trafford, who Oldham after a slow start blew them away despite some controversial decisions from the two Trafford umpires. 14 year old shooter Natalie Hulme showed maturity beyond her years to stand up to the physicality of the game and consistently put the ball away for Oldham. They beat Trafford 11-7

With four wins out of four Oldham won their group and went on to play Dominoes in the quarter finals, Oldham embraced the Fastnet rules further with plenty of rolling substitutes throughout the game and even tried a couple of shots from outside the shooting circle in an attempt to score double points. They progressed to the semi-final with an easy 18-7 win.

In the semi’s Oldham took on the experienced Chadwick’s from Manchester and the youngsters from Oldham began at a fast pace putting three past Chadwick’s with no response. Then came the fight back with the game going goal for goal. However, the young legs of Oldham won through in the end to set-up a final against local rivals YWCA Bury.

In the best game of the day with a good crowd watching to see who would make the grand finals at the World Netball Series, the game started goal for goal in a tense atmosphere. In the third quarter Bury took their powerplay (double points) and gained three goal lead for the first time in the match. However, it was Oldham powerplay in the final quarter, with Oldham looking in a good position, Bury’s superior experience took over and they kept possession very well and Oldham could not gain possession and failed to score a single goal. So Bury went through to defend their title with a 10-7 win.