SEVERN Stars overcame a stubborn Celtic Dragons to claim a hard-fought 59-50 victory and their first away win of the campaign.

Stars led from the start but were unable to shake off Dragons, who kept themselves within touching distance until the final quarter of an end to end game.

It wasn’t until the final few minutes that Stars were able to put the game beyond doubt, punishing the tiring home side with a strong finish to push themselves over the finishing line and clinch another Vitality Netball Superleague win.

Stars’ wing defence Rebecca Oatley praised her side’s performance, particularly coming after a 56-47 loss against league leaders Loughborough Lightning on Saturday.

“We’re really pleased,” she said.

“It was really important to back up what was quite a good performance, but ultimately a disappointing result, on Saturday with a really good team performance here.

“Dragons are always a really tough team to play when they’re at home. They’ve got great fans, but I thought we were able to silence them in that last quarter, and that’s the sweetest feeling.

“We’ve got great grit and resilience in our team. Hopefully that win will give us the belief we need to push on.

“It’s really sweet to come away with the win. “ After a frantic opening quarter at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff, Stars eventually edged two points ahead through the clinical finishing of goal shooter Eleanor Cardwell.

It was a lead that Stars wouldn’t surrender for the rest of the game.

But Dragons prevented the Worcester-based side from extending their first quarter lead to more than four points, keeping themselves within touching distance through patient attacking play in the final third.

Dragons ended a tight first quarter with a flurry, notching four points in the final two minutes to bring the deficit back to just one point, at 15-16.

Goal keeper Rachel Sweet played a key role in maintaining Stars’ two point advantage for much of the second quarter. Her crucial interception seven minutes before the break allowed centre Laura Malcolm to lead an incisive breakaway that resulted in Cardwell netting for the visitors.

Stars managed to increase their lead to six points two minutes before the break, with their impressive defensive performance causing several turnovers, from which Cardwell and goal attack Iona Darroch were able to capitalise.

But Dragons hit back to cut the half-time deficit to just four points to keep themselves in the game at 31-27.

Stars started the second half brightly and managed to regain their six-point advantage after just two minutes of the restart.

But, after Oatley was forced off with an injury against her former club, Dragons got control of the game bringing the score back to within three points midway through the third quarter.

Dragons continued to gain momentum and edged back to within just one point of the away side with two minutes left of the third quarter, before a Darroch double and a late goal from Cardwell ensured Stars ended it with a 42-38 lead.

Despite the home team cutting the deficit to just three points again in the opening stages of the final quarter, Stars began to find their rhythm and were able to extend their lead to eight points, helped by some impressive finishing from substitute goal attack Yasmin Hodge-England and Cardwell.

From then on Stars dominated the closing stages, with clever attacking play orchestrated by Laura Malcolm providing Hodge-England and Cardwell with the ammunition they needed to put Stars ahead by ten points and see out the game.