Nottingham Forest beat Mavericks 60-59 in thriller

Nottingham Forest’s Tash Pavelin said her side “showed a lot of grit and determination” in their Netball Super League season opener as they beat London Mavericks by one point in a thrilling game.

Forest had trailed 30-25 at half-time away at the Hertfordshire Sports Village and were 43-40 down at the end of the third quarter before fighting back to claim a 60-59 victory.

“What a game for the fans and what a game to be part of,” said Pavelin. “I’m just so happy that we could push through and get over the line.

“We showed a lot of grit and determination today to push through and win by that one goal.”

London Mavericks levelled at 59 apiece before Nottingham Forest’s Rolene Streutker scored the winner in the final seconds.

“[It was] nerve-wracking and had a bit of everything,” said Forest head coach Chelsea Pitman.

London Mavericks head coach Tamsin Greenway sent out her players in a range of kits, with shorts, skirts, skorts, leggings and vests all being options this season for the capital side.

They are the only NSL team going all-out to provide their players with such an outfit choice in a sport where dresses have long been the norm.

Greenway says the traditions of women’s sportswear come from “the olden days”, which is why she welcomed news of the change.

Former England player Greenway told BBC Sport: “When it was presented to me, I hadn’t even thought about it because netball is played in dresses, right? I know the dress is iconic for many people.

“But as a 12-year-old kid I wouldn’t have wanted to play [in a dress] – I was a proper tomboy, I wore shorts and T-shirts and loved my football team who wore that, and I wouldn’t have enjoyed [wearing a dress].

“You’re out there putting out your best, so you want to look your best, feel your best, so why should there not be options for that, as long as it all looks like a uniform, which it does.

London Pulse showed a “no-mercy mindset” as they got their Netball Super League title defence off to a winning start with a 56-51 victory over Manchester Thunder on Friday at the Copper Box Arena.

Having been edged out in last week’s season-opening Netball Super Cup final by Loughborough Lightning, a dominant third and fourth-quarter showing enabled the home side to stretch out what had been a two-point lead at the halfway point.

Player of the match Halimat Adio hailed Pulse’s “slick” display.

“It’s crazy to say it, but we had a no-mercy mentality today,” she said. “We want to finish off where we finished off last season.

“We want to win and we have to start that from the get-go. I think everyone did that.

“Obviously last week was really disappointing for us, but there are building blocks.

“This year the teams are really, really strong. So we need to do our homework and I think we’ll be all good.”

Pulse coach Sam Bird said the game had “ebbed and flowed” with Thunder scores in the last two minutes narrowing the gap to grab a league table point for finishing within five points of their opponents.

BBC Sport will show one game per week during the regular season.

These are the games you can watch live on the BBC Sport website and iPlayer:

28 February: London Mavericks 59-60 Nottingham Forest

7 March: Manchester Thunder v London Mavericks (17:00 GMT)

15 March: Nottingham Forest v Leeds Rhinos (16:00 GMT)

22 March: London Pulse v Nottingham Forest (18:00 GMT)

28 March: Loughborough Lightning v Birmingham Panthers (18:30 GMT)

4 April: London Pulse v Birmingham Panthers (17:00 BST)

11 April: Dragons v Birmingham Panthers (16:00 BST)

18 April: Loughborough Lightning v London Mavericks (18:00 BST)