Pulse trounce Panthers as Lightning beat Thunder

Defending champions London Pulse completed a third consecutive victory as they brushed aside Birmingham Panthers 78-45 in Netball Super League - the biggest winning margin of the season so far.

The result at the Copper Box moves Pulse up to second place in the table, overtaking Manchester Thunder who lost 68-58 to leaders Loughborough Lightning.

Pulse took early control against winless Panthers, leading 24-8 by the end of the first quarter and 42-18 at the halfway mark. It was a ruthless effort against a team who have lost all of their matches so far by at least 10 points.

"We needed a game like this. We all came together, we knew exactly what we had to do. We're really proud of ourselves," Pulse's player of the match Funmi Fadoju told BBC Sport.

"It was so important for us to show we're not a one-dimensional team, we have different combos, different structures and they do work. It just gave us confidence going into the second half of the season."

Pulse face London Mavericks in a derby fixture in the next round, marking the halfway stage in the regular season.

Coach Sue Bird said Saturday's victory would help Pulse press on, with the first-time champions looking to triumph again.

"Building on what we've done, stepping up the intensity on everything we do, just becoming a real menace to play against," said Bird, discussing her plan for the rest of the campaign.

"There's been certain games where we've either had our defence firing or our attack firing but maybe not everyone together, but when that comes together like it does today then we're a very dangerous team.

"We've been adjusting a couple of things in training and the girls have taken that on really well this week. I know when we're winning ball, that's our identity, and once we were cooking we'd be fine."

Undefeated Lightning made it six wins in a row at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, with Samantha Wallace-Joseph top-scoring with 26 goals against Thunder.

Defeat means Thunder slip to third, but they remain ahead of Nottingham Forest who fell to a 62-57 loss against Dragons in what was the first game of a double-header in Nottingham.

Forest's South African international Rolene Streutker led the scoring in that fixture with 27 goals, but it was not enough to take her side to victory.

London Mavericks had too much for Leeds Rhinos in Saturday's evening fixture, winning 54-44 to improve to three victories from six outings this season.

Leeds sit seventh, with just one win to date and only Panthers below them.

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

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

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

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