Steel coach Robyn Broughton was both disappointed and surprised by her team's 56-44 win over the Central Pulse in Dunedin last night.
The wily campaigner had cause for satisfaction but was not completely content with the Steel's 12-goal win.
The home side played some magnificent netball and shot out to a 34-17 lead by halftime.
But the Steel released the pressure valve in the second spell, allowing the Pulse to salvage some respectability.
The visitor won the third quarter 12-10 and the final period 15-12 to help reduce the margin.
The damage, though, had been already done.
The Pulse produced a woeful 30min of netball which left Broughton scratching her head.
With players like Silver Ferns Katrina Grant and Paula Griffin, shooter Jane Altschwager and defender Ama Agbeze, the Wellington-based team should be performing better, Broughton said.
"They'd be disappointed, too, but they did come back," she commented.
From the Steel's perspective it was hard to stay motivated after leading by such a large margin at halftime.
"We probably lost a bit of zip and they picked up," Broughton acknowledged.
"I think we are better than that and we are pretty hard on ourselves.
"It had nothing to do with the changes, it was just that the team went off the boil."
Heading into what shapes as a much tougher match against the Adelaide Thunderbirds on their home court, Broughton said her side would be focusing on "keeping the impetus going for the full 60 minutes".
"We've got to learn to hold on to leads.
"We did it really well to start off with, but we just lost the plot."
The Steel has won two of its three matches, with its only loss coming against the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic last week.
That game followed a similar pattern, with the Steel getting off to a good start but fading in the final half.
