Ward admits Thunder should have done better

Thunder lost the National Cup final to league champions Manchester Magic and reached the quarter-finals of the National Trophy but failed to make the end-of-season play-offs.

Despite finishing the season with four wins from five league games, Thunder ended up tenth in National League Division 1 and Ward said: “It was a bitter-sweet finish, really. We feel that we’re one of the better teams in the league but we didn’t show that over the course of the season.

“We certainly should have done better. We have the ability on the offensive end and we had defensive ability, with James Cambronne inside who’s one of the best players in the league, if not the best player.

“There are teams in the league, like Manchester, who are a clear great team and will be very tough to beat. But there’s other games where if we play well, we’ll win those games, it’s that simple.

“The Trophy quarter-final was a game we should have won. We had it in the bag and lost it and we also lost a lot of other close games where we were winning and fell apart.

“That comes with leadership and is something we need to improve on and become more mature as a team. I feel a deep personal responsibility for that and I need to do better next season.”