Lightning were going for their third successive win and Pulse’s triumph has seen them upset the Thunder and Lighting duopoly that has dominated netball for the past five seasons.

Victory wraps up a fabulous treble for Head Coach Sam Bird’s youthful charges, who won the inaugural Netball Super Cup back in March and topped the regular season table by five points.

The final whistle saw the majority of the 9,800+ crowd – a record for an NSL event and the biggest netball crowd in England in over 20 years – inside the arena go wild, with the Pulse players embracing before sinking to the floor, emotionally drained.

At the start of the game, Pulse opened up a narrow lead and despite the brilliance and resilience of Loughborough Lightning, they were never headed. That said, they never managed to stretch so far in front as to have breathing space, with the result in doubt right until the end.

Ultimately, Pulse kept their composure to close out their second Grand Final, having lost their first in 2023 against the same opponents, to become the seventh different team to be crowned Netball Super League champions.

A frenetic first quarter see-sawed this way and that, with the tone set by Halimat Adio, who put pressure on the Lightning attack and celebrated with the crowd in the first minute of the game as the ball went out of play and was turned over.

The Pulse defence heaped pressure on their opponents, but both teams struggled to find their range in the high-intensity encounter, roared on by their exuberant fans.

The first Soft & Gentle Super Shot was sunk by Olivia Tchine to give Pulse a four-goal lead at quarter-time.

As the players grew into the match and came to terms with the occasion, Lightning’s attacks were pushed back by Pulse’s court-covering defence, with Adio and Funmi Fadoju combining to turn the ball over.

The arrival of Ella Clark sparked life into Loughborough as she sank Super Shot after Super Shot to eat into Pulse’s lead, which had grown to eight but was reduced to just two at half-time.

Head Coach Sam Bird used the break to make her first change of the match as Gracie Smith, who was sitting her GCSEs just last month, entered the court to become the youngest Grand Final player in NSL history. A swirling ball into Tchine showed exactly what she is made of as London Pulse pushed the lead out to five points.

Adio started cramping up and was forced off the court but Darcie Everitt, sister of captain Zara, more than held her own on her Grand Final debut.

Two Soft & Gentle Super Shots from Lightning bounced out as the lead stretched to eight and although the defending champions never gave up, this Pulse side, mature beyond their years, closed out the game calmly before that emotional finish.

Player of the match Funmi Fadoju said: “It feels so amazing. I am so proud of the girls. We went out there and did what we had to do. We knew exactly what our set-ups were, we knew we had to work together, and that’s what we did. There’s no words to describe it. I knew we could do it and we did.”

Head Coach Sam Bird added: “I’m so happy for the club, the girls, our sponsors, our fans. It is such a great day. It was such a hard game. It was like a game of chess. The strategy involved was really tough and I’m just really proud we got across the line.”

Rewatch the Grand Final