Netball Superleague 2016: Surrey Storm beat Manchester Thunder to retain title

Surrey Storm have now won back-to-back Superleague titles

Defending champions Surrey Storm retained their Superleague title with a 55-53 victory over Manchester Thunder.

Surrey took a 32-19 half-time lead and despite Thunder dominating the final quarter, their poor start cost them the title as Storm held on for victory.

The London-based outfit's experience in the shooting circle told as ex-England captain Pamela Cookey and Rachel Dunn remained calm under pressure.

Team Bath beat Hertfordshire Mavericks 49-48 in the third-place play-off.

Tense finale

Surrey Storm have contested four of the last five finals in Superleague.

Surrey were competing in their third consecutive Grand Final, having lost to Thunder in 2014 and then beaten Mavericks to clinch the title last year.

And the defending champions got off to a flying start as sloppy passing in the Thunder attack handed Storm a 15-9 quarter-time lead.

But Manchester, who topped the table after 14 rounds of the regular season, fought back to within one goal with 30 seconds left on the clock.

In the final seconds Storm maintained possession before Dunn slotted the final goal on the whistle to deny Thunder a miraculous comeback.