Scottish Thistles' netball World Cup hopes still alive as Sirens trio play key role

South Lanarkshire trio Emily Nicholl, Niamh McCall and Emma Barrie have played a key role as Scottish Thistles bid for their best Netball World Cup finish in 29 years in Cape Town.

Tonga beat them 55-46 on Tuesday, leaving them with a final Group F match against Fiji today (Thursday, 10am BST), before entering into classification matches to determine Scotland’s ranking.

Head coach Tamsin Greenway said: “We wanted to take it to them. I think the frustration comes because we were right in that game.

“Every match has been different, so we’ve had games where we have taken the lead and not been able to hold on, we’ve had ups and downs in different quarters. I think this match was great to show the fight and resilience we’ve got.

“We have another opportunity against Fiji, which is the game we’ve come to win. Fiji is a game we have to step up and deliver on.”

Thistles have won one match so far against Barbados, but pushed World No.1 Australia close in their opening Group F match, having progressed to the second group phase of the competition.

Scotland are second-bottom of Group F and won’t progress to the semi-finals, however, they can still achieve a high finish as nations vie for places 5-8 and 9-12.

A top-10 finish would be their highest since 1994.

Thistles qualified from Pool B with a 53-44 win over Barbados either side of a 55-49 loss to Malawi in their opener, and a 62-37 defeat to England in the final pool match, which saw them both progress.

Scotland lost 76-37 against Australia in Group F, but pushed the favourites closer than any other opponent in the tournament to that point, with the Diamonds bagging their lowest points total, having scored 101, 85 and 86 by then.

Strathaven ace McCall, who earned Player of the