When 22-year-old Georgie Horjus earned her first call-up to the Diamonds this year, social media went into meltdown.

The pocket rocket is a fan favourite for her crafty play in attack and her down-to-earth personality. Horjus has been the key to the Adelaide Thunderbirds back-to-back Super Netball premierships too, playing both wing attack and goal attack with class.

The majority of fans were therefore hoping to see her debut in her home city on Thursday, but it was not to be. Then today, there was chatter online again when Horjus was overlooked for a second straight game.

Now that England have fought back, and the series sits at 1-all, it feels even more unlikely that we’ll see Horjus get a run against the Roses at all.

Australia will be taking this last game in Bendigo very seriously and are likely to stay conservative with selection now, hoping their more experienced players can get the result.

If you’d like to find out more about Horjus, you can read this ABC Sport piece back from the time the young gun got her first Australian contract.

Okay so let’s take a look at the final stats for game two and see what the numbers tell us.

We can see here that England were far better defensively this time around and but other than that it was a very even game across time in possession, overall penalties (England 56 – 54 Australia), possession changes and general play turnovers.

Meanwhile, the scoring stats us that England scored seven of the last 10 goals. They were coming home like a freight train! Kudos to the players for finding the much needed self-belief we alluded to early in the blog.

Housby was asked for her thoughts on the POTM just now by host broadcaster Fox Netball and she called her teammate “a firecracker”. Excellent way to describe Funmi’s ability to get up to a ball and also spark some energy from the back of the court.

Agreed, Madz! Nice to see an even contest, it is always way more entertaining. Exciting seeing some of the younger Roses players drive that result tonight. Including Lois Pearson who was excellent in wing attack. In just her second-ever game of international netball she plugged the gap England have been missing in WA for sure. Also her stats: 39 feeds, 26 goal assists and 31 centre-pass receives are truly Lizzy Watson areas! What a phenomenal outing for Pearson. That should give England fans confidence about the future of this Roses team. Even forced a change for the Diamonds, playing on two different wing defences throughout the match.

Who else could it be but this woman?

Funmi was fantastic tonight, and we finally got to see her play a full 60 minutes on court for the Roses. She has struggled to get a consistent starting position with the team, despite her timing and leap always being tough to face. Hopefully she is rewarded with another start in game three. Absolutely brilliant this afternoon.

Speaking with host broadcaster Fox Netball, Fadoju was asked what was different about the Roses tonight:

“Just our intensity, both teams went out with all they had.”

The Roses have kept the series alive, with both teams winning a game each 1-1. This is huge. It’s just the third time the Roses have been able to beat the Diamonds on home soil.

It was such an impressive performance from the Roses right across the court, not many expected they would be up to the challenge of facing Australia again after the disappointing performance they put out just three days ago — losing by 13 goals.

But they’ve done a 360 and have shocked the world’s best team to send us to a decider on Wednesday night in Bendigo.

With 60 seconds left in the game, England are finishing strong.

SCORE: England lead 61-58

With three and a half minutes left in the game, Marinkovich has put on Sydney-local and Australian vice-captain Paige Hadley in centre. It’s her first minutes for the game as Moloney is subbed off.  The Diamonds coach is looking for composure from her experienced midcourter in these dying moments.

Another intercept from Funmi as she hangs back and cuts off the feed into Garbin. She’s got the Aussie shooter squeezed on the baseline as she leaps up and takes the ball.

Tchine converts and we remain level with four and a half minutes left on the clock.

SCORE: tied 56-all

Swifts fans know this look on the English shooter’s face all too well. The Roses centurion is leading from the front. Before she was dishing off to Tchine but now Housby wants a piece of the aciton and she’s starting to put up more shots and offer some dynamic play entering the circle.

Six minutes in and Australia spills the ball over the baseline. Austin puts a little too much height on the shooter-to-shooter pass to Garbin and it sails over her hands. England use the mistake to level the score back up.

Straight away Marinkovich responds with a tactical sub, switching Klau and Ellis again. Opting for more experience at the back.

SCORE: tied 50-all

The umpire rules Garbin has stepped along the baseline. England get the ball back but they accidentally pass it to a Diamonds player in the centre third and Australia finish what they started.

We’re going goal for goal here! The two-goal buffer remains.

Final quarter underway. The intensity is at an all-time high and you can sense the nervousness of the crowd.

Oh wow! The Aussies won’t give up.

With 30 seconds left on the clock the Diamonds managed to get back on top of their opponents by two goals and ensure the third quarter, just like the first, was drawn 16-all.

Don’t go anywhere! There’s just 15 minutes left in the game and who is going to take the honours is really anyone’s guess.

I will say, Sophie Garbin has done well coming on in. In just a quarter she’s managed to score roughly the same amount of goals Koenen and Austin put on in a half of netball. She’s scored 15 goals from 16 attempts at 94 per cent.

England are winning this period 15-12. Can anyone explain why they love the third quarter so much?

SCORE: England lead 42-41

A little less than four minutes left until the final break and Rudi Ellis has been let loose! She’s just replaced Klau at goal keeper as the Aussies hope to spark a bit of energy in defence.

At the same time, Amy Carter has come on for the Roses at wing defence sending Beth Cobden to the bench.

Funmi gets her second bit of clean ball in this game. The English goal defence has been really clever, stretching the Diamonds shooters wide and then using her aerial skills to get up high and pinch possession. Slowly but surely England are turning the cogs and working themselves back into this game.

SCORE: tied 38-all

It was accidental of course, but the umpire has rewarded England a penalty in the pocket after Imogen Allison put her hand straight to her nose.

Now that there’s almost an all-Vixens combo at the front of the court, the Diamonds are playing with some excellent timing. Five minutes into the third quarter and we can see each player knows their roe and when they need to drive forward next to get the ball. Only Watson is from a different team, but after a decade spent with the Vixens before she moved to the Lightning this year, that combo from her former club must feel like riding a bike.

SCOFE: Australia lead 36-33

Australia has made some changes for the third quarter, bringing goal shooter Sophie Garbin into the game at GS. She was excellent in the first game, so it makes sense to revert back to that combo with Austin.

Matilda Garrett has also come on in goal defence. This was a similar pattern from Stacey Marinkovich that we saw in game one, using Garrett as a super sub alongside Klau at the back. This pushes Sunday Aryang out to wing defence and sends Amy Parmenter to the bench.