London Pulse head coach Sam Bird is demanding for her side put up a huge winning performance against Loughborough Lightning this Saturday (June 13) in their last chance opportunity to reach the 2026 Netball Super League Grand Final.
The Glamorous Pink and Blacks fell to a 60-56 loss at AO Manchester Thunder in a result that saw Karen Greig’s table topping yellow army advance to British netball’s final season finale on June 20 at Manchester’s Co-op Live.
Olivia Tchine top-scored with 26 goals however Eleanor Caldwell’s important contribution of netting in 23 goals proved more decisive in Thunder’s victory.
Pulse now play Loughborough Lightning, who easily breezed past Nottingham Forest 77-57 in their minor semi-final, at Stratford’s Lee Valley Velo Park.
It is a match they must win in an opportunity to face Thunder again in the Grand Final otherwise their NSL title reign is over.
The manner of the way Pulse performed during their defeat to Thunder left Bird fuming.
“I thought we were terrible,” Bird told Sky Sports. “I thought we feel really short on a lot of aspects of our game, we were simply not good enough.
“The shooting volume wasn’t there. It took us too long to be decisive about putting ball in circle. We started to play lateral ball.
“I thought our defence was outstanding but our transition to goal was shocking, it was just not good enough.
“The truth is we’ve got a roster of 10. Everyone has got to stand up in their role and not everybody did and that’s down to us as coaching staff to help the do that and I’m annoyed at myself that I’ve haven’t help them do it.
“For a club like us I don’t want to say it was a great game and we’ve hold ourselves to account. Myself, top of the tree not being good enough so we have to go back, review it, work harder and see what we can bring next week.
“There are positives but right now I feel like this was a really good opportunity for us to get in the final and have a week off and rest up and we’ve sort of blown that. That’s why I’m frustrated but Thunder played very well.
"It’s really important we give credit to them and they’re showing that they’re hungry for this title but we’ve got to show that desire as well.”
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