Pulse end Forest’s unbeaten run in Super League

London Pulse coach Sam Bird says her side’s ability to keep their cool in tight games will serve them well for the rest of the Netball Super League season after a thrilling 73-63 victory over Nottingham Forest.

Pulse ended Forest’s 100% start to the season with a gritty performance as they won the match in extra time after the scores were level at 53 all at the end of regulation time.

Olivia Tchine, who notched 46 goals, and Sophie Kelly were clinical for Pulse in the additional 10 minutes to give the defending champions their third win of the season.

“We’ve been in tight finals, we’ve been in tight semi-finals, and I just think they’ve learned to stand up in these critical moments,” Bird told BBC Sport.

“Who knows? This could be happening further down the line later in the league.”

Player of the match Kelly was pleased with how Pulse managed to overcome a sluggish start to the contest to emerge victorious.

“We didn’t start good enough. I think we were just lacking a little bit,” she said.

“But I think we can be really proud of ourselves for being able to push on and push over and get that win at the end, especially coming up against Forest who are unbeaten this season.”

Forest coach Chelsea Pitman said the defeat in extra time will be a valuable learning curve for her side.

“I’m obviously disappointed to not come away with the win because I thought we were in control for 58 minutes of that game,” she explained.

“I think you always hear the cliche ‘you learn more from a loss’, but you also learn more about the grit of your team and also you get to see what other teams pull out when it comes to extra time.

Elsewhere in Sunday’s matches Loughborough Lightning beat London Mavericks 66-58 to maintain their 100% start.

Trinidad and Tobago star Samantha Wallace-Joseph led the way for the Lightning with 30 goals while Ella Clark chipped in with nine.

George Inger top scored for the Mavericks with 26 goals but despite only being two points behind Lightning at half-time the London side were unable to overhaul them.

Lightning’s victory gave them a two-point lead over Manchester Thunder at the top of the NSL standings.

Thunder claimed a 58-48 victory over winless Birmingham Panthers, who sit bottom of the table after four matches.

Eleanor Cardwell starred with 31 goals for Thunder while Sophie Fawns played her part with 11.

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:

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

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

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