Saracens Mavericks found the winning touch again in the Netball Superleague - but they did it the hard way at Leeds Rhinos with a one-point success.

The Hatfield-based side had lost their two previous outings but their trip to West Yorkshire looked like proving fruitful with a storming first half that at one stage had them seven in front.

They turned round at the break leading 25-19 but all that had unravelled by the end of the third quarter with Leeds muscling their way through the Mavericks mid-court and adding a flurry of goals.

They started the final period with a 39-38 advantage but with two minutes left, the Mavericks panic looked to have subsided with the visitors four points to the good.

There would still be a final twist in the tale though as Rhinos scored three goals in double-quick time and it meant Mavs needed to utilise a possession game to see out the final few seconds and secure the 53-52 victory.

Those final minutes as well as other technical issues left head coach Camilla Buchanan with a furrowed brow but she was still happy to see the three points come back to Hertfordshire.

"Those last three goals and letting them back into it was just unforgivable," she said.

"But I’ve told the girls to enjoy the win as they haven’t been too frequent. I’m really proud of some of the individuals out there.

"Aliyah Zaranyika was fantastic as was Jodie Gibson. They stepped up with some individual brilliance.

"To have Raz [Quashie] back in the squad too and seeing some of that circle work coming back was just brilliant.

"Beth Ecuyer-Dale as well, it was her first full 60 minutes of the season and she was really steady.

"It wasn’t the perfect performance by any means, but there was plenty to take away from that."

Venter scored 35 of the points, Kira Rothwell (11) and Britney Clarke (seven) getting the others, with Gibson claiming the player of the match award.

The result lifts them to sixth in the standings, six points behind Severn Stars in fifth but with two games in hand.

Next up is a clash at the Hertfordshire Sports Village on Saturday against Surrey Storm, one of the runaway top three clubs.

And Buchanan wants to see more from her squad when they are going forward.

 

"Our attacking play still needs work," she said. "I feel like we’ve got weapons in there which we’re still not utilising to their maximum.

"We’re improving game by game but when you’ve got someone like Ine-Mari [Venter] as a target, we really need to nail that connection.

"It just slips away at times and goes missing. When teams change something tactically, we need to make sure that we don’t slip into bad habits.

"We need to trust in what we’ve got and believe that we have enough in the locker to pull it out when needed."

The game at HSV against the Storm starts at 4pm.