Adelaide Thunderbirds coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson admitted she didn't see her side's performance coming following a one-goal loss in Saturday's trans-Tasman netball season opener in Adelaide.
Despite leading for the majority of the first half and a flurry of goals in the last five minutes of the game, the Thunderbirds were over-run by the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 45-44.
After finishing last season in a disappointing eighth spot, Woodlands-Thompson saw similar patterns from her side against the Magic.
"It's incredibly disappointing," she said.
"There's no point turning it on in the last five minutes, we needed to play like that the whole game."
Woodlands-Thompson said turnovers when transitioning from defence to attack proved costly.
English import Eboni Beckford-Chambers made her debut for the Thunderbirds at goalkeeper and earned praise from Woodlands-Thompson for holding Magic shooter Jo Harten to just 25 goals.
At the other end, Carla Borrego was inconsistent under the post for the home side finishing with just 23 goals at 72 per cent.
The Magic meanwhile were without injured captain Casey Kopua, but coach Julie Fitzgerald said the result proved they could win without her.
"I don't think the lead ever blew out to more than four one way or the other and I thought that to be able to hang in there and win a game like that is really good way to start the season," she said.
Fitzgerald also applauded the performance of young goal attack Malia Paseka who came on at half time and finished with 14 goals.
"She came on beautifully. I was very happy and she was much more confident than perhaps she's been in the past which was good to see," she said.
The Thunderbirds travel to Melbourne next week, chasing their first win of the season against the Vixens, while the Magic will be at home to the Swifts.
