Title-chasing Lightning have 'target on our backs'

Vic Burgess' Lightning are aiming to become the first team in history to win three successive Netball Super League titles

Loughborough Lightning head coach Vic Burgess says her side have had a "target on their backs" all season as they aim for a historic third consecutive Netball Super League title.

Lightning visit London Pulse in the major play-off semi-final on Friday (20:00 BST) at Copper Box Arena, looking to seal a seventh Grand Final spot in eight seasons.

The defending, three-time champions are the only side to beat Pulse at the Copper Box this season and Burgess says Loughborough "will treat the game as our final".

"We want to bank our space in that Grand Final as early as possible so we have to give it everything," Burgess told BBC Radio Leicester.

Pulse and Lightning finished first and second respectively in the Super League table, with the winner of their 'major' semi-final progressing automatically to the Grand Final on 6 July.

The loser still has a second chance to reach the showpiece game, hosting the winner of Friday's 'minor' semi-final between third-placed Manchester Thunder and fourth-placed London Mavericks the following weekend.

Burgess' side would become the first team in history to complete a 'three-peat' of Netball Super League titles should they reach the final and win.

But Lightning head into the semi-final off the back of a loss at Birmingham Panthers, a team in their debut season in the league, on the final day of the regular campaign.

"It has been a rollercoaster at times all season, there have been games we haven't been happy with but I hope that will drive us going forward," Burgess added.

"Teams have turned up against us. It has meant we haven't been able to drop our guard. We do have that target on our back and we have [had] all season.

"But we are in this position because we worked hard to get here. It is a privilege to be back-to-back champions. The pressure is a privilege. We just have to give our best selves on Friday."