Malory Eagles' fight to remain in contention for the inaugural volleyball Super 8s title was aided by a win away to Team Northumbria last weekend, writes Graham McConney.

The match was played at Northumbria's new £30m sporting complex - “Sports Central”, a fantastic, multi-sport venue in the heart of Newcastle.

Malory captain Mark Brown was missing for the journey and outside attacker Darius Setsoafia was benched due to a knee injury.

Assistant coach Donald Deans was left a tough gig by Jefferson Williams, forced to miss this crucial match. Malory got the first point on the board with an immediate side-out against the Northumbria serve.

Strong serving from Christian Perri backed up by solid defence gave the Eagles a five point lead which Northumbria were never able to recover, in spite of offensive pressure from Andrew Sinclair and Steve Harrison. The set finished comfortably for Eagles, 25-21.

Either journey fatigue or complacency crept into the Eagles game in set two with setter Ashley Trodden unable to connect with his attackers. Deans' timeout and substitutions were unable to reverse the slide as Malory relinquished the set tamely 25-16.

A stern talk at the break gave sufficient motivation to get the Eagles firing again and although the teams stayed level for most of set three, Malory stayed strong to take the set.

The deflated Northumbria side, struggling for a place in the top for, couldn't change their fortunes in set four, in spite of a slew of substitutions from coach Dave Goodchild, the 2009 coach of the year. A cool and unchanged Malory side ground out a win, holding their hosts under 20 for the first time during the match.

Club website: maloryeagles.org