Cheshire face another difficult weekend starting with Eagles

The task facing Cheshire Phoenix this weekend in the BBL Championship differs entirely from that of the last one.

Last week saw Phoenix lose out on the head-to-head to play-off spot rivals, London Lions, but 24 hours later progressed through to the BBL Trophy semi-finals with a dominant display against Worthing Thunder.

Yeah, it was a real mixed weekend for us, a win in the Trophy and a loss in the league which, in some respects, was a bad weekend for us.

The loss against Lions puts our backs up against the wall a little – really we need to ensure that we beat the teams around us and attempt to take some points off the ones above us which we are fully capable of.

We will go into these next two games off a positive win, OK, it was against a team a lot lower than us, however they did have some talented players and we need to take the energy we had in that game into these two games this weekend.

Another pressurised weekend is in store for head coach Matt Lloyd and his brigade, as they face up to the two sides battling it out at the top of the BBL Championship table, Newcastle Eagles and Leicester Riders. Newcastle are first up for Cheshire, and for the North West side to go to a smarting Eagles, who were knocked out of the BBL Trophy at home last Friday; the visitors may end up facing a backlash as Newcastle try to maintain the upper hand in the league.

Cheshire have lost their two previous meetings this season, so if they were to pull off a shock win it could have an effect at both ends of the table. However, Lloyd knows his side need to have better time to prepare on the night after arriving in Newcastle with minimal time on their side, although he also believes his players need to take responsibility on court.

Previously we haven’t matched up well with Newcastle at both our place and theirs, neither did we have the ideal preparation last time when we went to Sport Central – only arriving less than half an hour before tip, so hopefully we can prepare fully this time, not that arriving late for the game is any excuse that we lost last time.

Speaking to BBL.org.uk, Newcastle Eagles player-coach, Fabulous Flournoy, despite losing a spot in the BBL Trophy did not place blame on his players as much as many other coaches may have done.

“We actually played well against Worcester. I can’t fault my players’ effort or commitment to the task. They are a very talented team and we knew it would be tough going in two senior guys down but we got a great effort from Charles Smith who nearly carried us home and also a superb performance from Kareem Maddox.

“In fact Kareem fouling out in the fourth quarter was probably the key moment in the game and after that we struggled to maintain our defensive intensity and attention to detail. Alex Owumi really carried his team for much of the game and in particular in the fourth quarter. He was exceptional.”

Flournoy seems to think that the visitors to Sport Central this Friday have now found some grounding within their roster, but knows not to take them lightly as Gabe Haskins’ injury has now been shaken off and with the other dominant figures in the Phoenix line-up, it could prove to be more difficult than first thought.

“Cheshire have finally settled on a really solid rotation. I don’t read much into their recent results as they have been missing Haskins who I think is a really under-rated player. We know only too well the effect missing a point guard has on the team as it ends up resulting in multiple players having to play different roles. Chez Marks will always be a key because of his ability to score but Alif Bland has also had a very consistent rookie season.

“We have to try to limit their good looks at the basket and then be aggressive offensively.”

• Newcastle Eagles versus Cheshire Phoenix tips off at 7:30pm on Friday 15th February at Sport Central, Northumbria University. See www.newcastle-eagles.com for more details.