COACH of St Ann Orchids, Kurt Dale says he is backing his team to get the better of Kingston Hummingbirds for the second time in the 2023 Seprod/Netball Jamaica (NJ) Elite League.

With a play-off place just within their grasp the Orchids are joint top of the four-team standing alongside Manchester Spurs; both have six points but the Orchids have a better goal difference. The Hummingbirds are at the foot of the table with three points, the same as third-place St Catherine Racers who have a better goal difference. The top two teams after the preliminary round will advance to the final, which will be a best-of-three series.

The Orchids take on Hummingbirds at 6:00 pm while the Racers face the Spurs at 7:30 pm at the National Arena.

When they first met on March 10 the Orchids came away as the 67-59 winners.

Dale said he is hoping his girls can repeat that performance which saw goal shooter Sabina Spence netting a game-high 52 goals from 65 attempts.

“We are going to go into this match a little bit cautious. I think the last two games we had some shaky performances as we barely got over the line against Racers, and then we went down to Spurs,” Dale told the Jamaica Observer.

“Kingston Hummingbirds are coming off a win and so they will be feeling confident and so we will be cautious. We will be going in with a game plan and hopefully that will get us across the line,” he shared.

Dale said that training has been going well for the players and that they are ready for the battle.

“Training has been really, really good. We haven’t managed to get all of the players together but they have been doing some sessions — both virtually and in-person — and we have identified some areas that we want to work on so everything should be good for the game,” he said.