It is one of the first words from Southern Steel coach Reinga Bloxham after her team’s 50-31 loss to the Mainland Tactix yesterday.
The Steel was up by one at the end of the first quarter, trailed by four at halftime but scored only 13 goals in the entire second half in Dunedin.
It lost the third 11-6, and the fourth 17-7, recording its lowest ever score and allowing the Tactix a blowout win, favouring the visitors more than it should have.
"Very good first half, probably disappointing fourth quarter," Bloxham said.
"We were just sort of working, and grinding, and staying in it, which was great, and then the wheels kind of just fell off.
"As soon as you give them a sniff they just ran away with it.
"It isn’t unusual, it’s a thing that’s been happening throughout the season," she said.
"Probably for [the Tactix], we’d beaten them the last two games in the final quarter, so I’d imagine that they weren’t going to let that happen again.
"That’s the stuff — that’s why we can’t get a win on the board, because we can’t execute for the full 60."
The Steel’s intensity from the outset was huge, especially defensively across the court — "probably the best that we’ve been all season" — and players treasured the ball for longer than usual.
But silly mistakes and bad passes handed the Tactix the game.
"I think it is frustrating and I think you can see the frustration on players as well because it’s not for lack of effort or trying.
"It’s just the execution piece and it seems to be kind of the same errors as well."
It came down to players taking accountability for their errors and reverting to their processes to avoid making bad choices under pressure, Bloxham said.
"It’s something that we’re talking about and it’s something we will probably have to keep working on until the end of the season.
"I think if we flip it around, for some of those younger players it is a great opportunity for them to learn in those moments so that with each game, the next time it happens, they go ‘right, I’ve been here before’."
Georgia Heffernan was instrumental for the home side. Her workload outside of the circle was big, bringing the ball through the court and her defensive work helped keep the home side in touch.
It was a messy start from both sides with turnovers at a frantic pace.
But it was the Steel which settled first, after Georgia Heffernan plucked an intercept from the Tactix centre pass.
She bombed it down to Saviour Tui who made sure of it at the back.
Georgia Heffernan added another intercept and deflection to her name before the end of the quarter, while her sister, Kate, directed the attack line.
Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and Sam Winders did a mountain of work on attack, taking nearly every centre pass and bringing the ball down the court.
Winders took a flying intercept, putting the Steel in front.
It was one of the best quarters the Steel has produced all season, restricting the Tactix to nine goals.
But the Tactix came out strongly from the break, with Aliyah Dunn coming into the game more and her connection with Te Paea Selby-Rickit shone.
Laura Malcolm came on in the middle for the Tactix mid-way through the quarter and changed the tempo of the visitors’ attack line.
She was calm and helped the visitors push out to a 22-18 lead at halftime.
The Steel struggled to get the ball to its shooters in the second half and the the visitors’ experience helped the Tactix put its foot down and run out a big win.
ANZ Premiership
The scores
Mainland Tactix 50
Aliyah Dunn 30/31, Te Paea Selby-Rickit 20/23
Southern Steel 31
Saviour Tui 18/19, Georgia Heffernan 11/16, Jess Allan 2/3
Quarter scores: 10-9, 18-22, 24-33, 31-50
