A season of Thunder and triumph

When the Arsenal football team were crowned ‘Invincibles’ for their unbeaten season in 2003-04, it was an achievement considered almost impossible to emulate, in any sport. 

Manchester Thunder obviously missed that false punditry, as they completed an incredible unbeaten season in the Netball Superleaguie with a thrilling 60-53 defeat of last year’s champions, Loughboorough Lightening. 

Thunder began their quest for a fourth title with a composed start to the match, as Lightening were rocked by a horrible injury to shooter Ella Clark. 

It was 20-8 in favour of Thunder at the end of the first quarter but Lightening, to their credit, stayed in the game and even offered signs of a shock in the third quarter, reducing the deficit to just seven. 

Thunder resisted the recovery and sealed a wonderful victory with a performance full of confidence and quality.  

Thunder Head Coach Karen Greig said: "You can't get any closer to perfect than that. It is unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. 

"Everything that we've thrown at the girls this year, they've done it and I couldn't be prouder of every single one of them.”