BBL Betting: Sunday 3rd February

Man did I blow out on Friday night? It definitely proved something – that Lions really are not at the races and shouldn’t really be in that pack fighting it out for 7th and 8th spots.

A lot of noise from Tigers and the belief is they will be going for London when they visit Knowsley in less than three weeks, so you heard it here first that I think Mersey will finally claim that elusive W.

Back on to today, and I suppose I will use Vince’s Lions as a starting point in today’s tip.

I say “tip” as this is a points spread special; decent value I feel, and all with the mighty William Hill.

London showed they really are not up to scratch. Yes, they broke their own losing streak, but really and truly, it seems that any other team would have made them pay earlier on, and against the ‘lesser’ sides in Tigers and Phoenix, from what I have seen and heard, it seems a last quarter surge is just about making ends meet.

For me then, seeing that a long trip up to Glasgow is being made, it may seem a longer trip home, as Rocks attempt to go for five straight Championship wins. On the back of a strong winning display in front of the cameras on Friday night, it could spur the home side on to make theirs a double this weekend, and in emphatic style too.

Rocks to win with a -15.5pt handicap is 7/4…

Moving slowly down the United Kingdom, we have in store two fronts about to clash and cause possible localised flooding.

Yes, it’s another North East derby, but seeing as though this is another difficult test from Durham, albeit at home, the number of games they have undertaken because of League and university fixtures; this could be the point in which it ends up raining Wildcats and dogs.

Newcastle have yet to play this weekend, and they will not want to give Leicester an real opportunity at taking over top spot, as it looks as though the battle between those sides will really heat up over the next few weeks and months.

Expect a demolition job on Durham – never have Eagles failed in the task of beating them – and the spread is favourable. 7/2 has been given for an away win with -24.5pts…

Finally, Cheshire Phoenix see the return of two old boys from last year to the Northgate Arena.

Matt Schneck and Colin O’Reilly will be making the trip from the south coast of Devon with the rest of the Green Army, and will hope to add more misery to Cheshire’s weekend.

After a shock loss to Durham over a week ago at Pavilions, they got themselves back on track with a comfortable display against Mersey, and will be hoping a second trip in seven days to the North West will produce similar good fortune, and with a  72% away win record across all competitions; it looks quite possible.

Cheshire need some damage limitation at the moment. Stuart Thomson is now into the fold but only time will tell if his addition will bolster the side – Gabe Haskins was also not available for the loss against Rocks, and with a glut of travelling still to be done, the formula for success is constantly being tweaked because of the circumstances coming their way; home victories could prove key come the end of the season, so it will no doubt be a difficult battle tonight.

With all of those things said, I still feel it could be a mighty task, and maybe we could see the BBL Trophy as a positive distraction for Cheshire – maybe even claiming some shock silverware? Let’s not forget it was the first BBL branded honour they had won back in 2000-01.

Plymouth then for me are going for it tonight. An unforgiving display tonight, where they will want to definitely try and reaffirm their playoff ambitions with a -17.5pt handicap win (10/3).