Not all doom and gloom for the Magic | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

There's a sense of deja vu about Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic's 2010 transtasman championship campaign after their 47-52 loss to Steel in Invercargill last night.

The defeat has come at a time when they need to be winning every game to ensure a play-off spot and they're in danger of making things hard on themselves - as they have done in previous seasons - with some tough matches left to play, including one in a fortnight against competition frontrunners NSW Swifts.

The situation isn't entirely of Magic's own making. Losing wing defence Peta Scholz to injury for the rest of the season has forced them to rejig their line-up in an inconvenient phase of the competition.

Coach Noeline Taurua last night chose to keep Jodi Tod at wing defence and played Kahurangi Waititi at goal keep, putting Jess Tuki there for the final seven or so minutes.

As Magic captain Laura Langman, who had an outstanding defensive game at centre, pointed out, all is not lost just yet.

"It's not all doom and gloom," she said post-match. "They slipped away from us in the end ... it was a great physical, skilful match ... we put up a pretty good fight."

It wasn't enough to win the match, however and Magic were guilty of lapsing at times, worn down by some impressive all-out Steel defence. Shooters Irene van Dyk and Jodi Brown found themselves under huge pressure, particularly from Leana du Bruin. She was a menace all game, earning herself the player of the match award while a few crucial missed goals from Magic sealed the visitors' fate.

At the other end Casey Williams had a fairly quiet game while shooter Daneka Wipiiti stepped up for Steel with Megan Dehn leading the way at goal attack.

With the rowdy local crowd behind them, Steel always looked to have the edge last night, managing to have their noses in front at each break - 15-11 after the first quarter, 29-25 at half time and 41-39 at the end of the third spell before sealing the win in the final stanza to keep their semifinal hopes alive. The two sides were goal for goal a lot of the match but Magic allowed the home team a few easy runs which meant they then had to play catch-up to stay
in the running. Steel meanwhile generally did what they do best - holding on to their own possession and made their opponents pay for any miscalculation.

Magic, still holding on to second place on the points table, don't need to switch to panic mode just yet but time is certainly running out for Taurua to decide whether to try and find a replacement player or stick with her current crew.

Next week will see Magic against Queensland Firebirds in Rotorua with a big match-up, against Swifts, the following week in Sydney.