Thunder all-rounder Erin Osborne admitted her side had a target on its back this season after Wednesday afternoon's loss to the Sixers, who exacted grand final revenge with a dominant win over their Sydney rivals.
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The loss robbed Osborne's team of a Christmas trifecta with the Thunder having beaten the Melbourne Renegades twice earlier this week, and left them sitting on three wins, three losses and a washout at the halfway mark of the season.
For the magenta side of Sydney, Wednesday's 33-run win restored some Harbour City pride for the Sixers but more importantly their second victory of another slow-starting season kept them in touch with the top four.
It was the first Sydney derby since the Thunder's nail-biting win in last season's inaugural Women's Big Bash League final.
"I definitely think we're the hunted this year but I don't think we play any differently from what we did last year," Osborne said.
"We're putting some good performances in we just haven't had that complete performance at the moment. But I think that's T20 cricket, the nature of the game as well.
"You have to play at your best every day otherwise you're going to get done."
Batting first the Sixers laid a superb foundation through Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy, who piled on 88 for the first wicket before the latter fell for 55.
Perry finished with 42 and Ashleigh Gardner's unbeaten 52 helped the Sixers to 3-164 which set the Thunder too big a task.
"They batted well in the first six [overs], and unlike other games they were able to go on with it and we weren't able to control them through the middle period at all," Osborne said.
"Ash Gardner today batted really well and was able to score the boundaries in that middle period which no other team has really done so far.
"We're not too worried about it, there's still plenty of games in the shed and we're sitting in a reasonable position to start playing some good cricket and take it from there."
The Thunder now enjoy four days off before a double header against the Brisbane Heat in early January, while the Sixers look to square their ledger against the Hobart Hurricanes on Thursday.
"It's obviously nice to beat the Thunder as well being a derby game," Healy said.
"It's always a great game against them. I'm not going to stand here and say it's not nice to beat them.
"Our bowling today was fantastic and our batting was sensational so hopefully we can take the confidence into the game tomorrow against the Hurricanes."
