Saracens Mavericks were unable to prevent unbeaten pair Loughborough Lightning and Surrey Storm from cementing their position at the top of the Netball Superleague but head coach Camilla Buchanan was still pleased with their performances.

The Hatfield-based Mavs went down 68-51 away to Loughborough on Friday and followed it up 24 hours later with a 68-56 loss in Guildford.

But with the games being arguably the two toughest road trips they will face, the gaffer was looking at the positives from the defeat to the Storm.

Speaking on the club's website, Buchanan said: "First of all, we’ve been building. We talked about where we’ve come from already since that first game.

"We knew that things would change in the second half, and we’ve talked about the need to do that in the first few games.

"I was really pleased with how the players did that and it certainly didn’t feel like a 12-goal game.

"We know against the top sides that a few errors can allow the score to blow out.

"I couldn’t be more pleased with how the group attacked that game and stuck to plan. If you look at where we were in game one to today, the growth has been huge.

"If we keep growing this way through the season, then we’ll be in a good position."

"We’ve got weapons, but we can’t rely on them. We need a whole group effort and everybody had moments.

"There were a few basic things that let us down but we’ve got the first part of the season out of the way, so we need to look to refine some stuff.

"This group is very honest and open, so we’ll go back and keep working on the basics."

Buchanan went with the same starting seven for both games and revealed that was to help aid the development of the squad.

She said: "We’re a growing unit at the moment so it’s really important to solidify those connections.

"You can change some things but the group worked things out on the court."

But while she is pleased with aspects of the double-header, the fact that Saracens are returning to their Hertfordshire Sports Village home next is something that makes Buchanan even happier.

She said: "It was pleasing that we were still challenging the ball. The players are fit enough and they handled the double header well. We’ll move on now to the next one.

"We’ve got Dragons at home and we’re all looking forward to being back at home in front of the HSV crowd."

That game against Celtic takes place on Saturday with a 2pm start.