North Down Lizards lose out in play offs

Another indoor season comes to an end with the 2006 champions and 2007 runners up taking the league title again. This meant the North Down men qualified to play the top VAI team, Cbphoto.ie, in the P32 playoff in Dublin 16th May. Due to half of the squad unable to make the fixture 2 new recruits were drafted in 3 weeks prior, Marcin and Peter from Civil Service. Several practice sessions were arranged with the help of the Queens University club however there was only one session with 6 players available at once. The playoff was therefore the first match this mix of players competed in and it was against tough opposition.

The first set was very tight with a timeout being called by Cb photo when they were 14 - 12 down. This seemed to work as they closed the gap and finally won the set 25 - 22. This obviously boosted their confidence for the next 2 sets and the lack of defence work and matches for the Lizards showed. The VAI team deservedly won out and therefore qualify for the P32 league next season.

Lizards’ captain, Colin Kerr commented “it’s a shame we didn’t have a full squad. While we had good individual talent, we simply didn’t play well as a team, especially defence and our passing. This happened during our only loss in the NI league when playing without key players. The match however gave us a valuable lesson - plenty of match practice prior to the playoff!”

Colin added "so perhaps in the next few years the top NI team will learn from past mistakes and NIVA will finally get a team able to challenge the top spot in the P32".