Jets @ Riders – BBL Championship preview

by UK American Sports Fans

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BBL Championship

Saturday 27th October

Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders vs Cheshire Jets

Coming in off the back of a 12-point victory away to reigning clean sweep champions, Newcastle Eagles, Leicester Riders return home to try and claim a first head-to-head record against Cheshire Jets.

Unbeaten still so far this season, the game at Sport Central has given Riders the edge, and will be oozing with confidence no doubt ahead of this match up.

Cheshire Jets will be buoyed by their improvement against Plymouth Raiders last week, despite the loss at the hands of Gavin Love’s also unbeaten side. After the resignation of James Hamilton, the promotion of Chez Marks from captain to the interim role of player-coach, and the addition of Welsh international Chris Pearce to the fold, the visitors to John Sandford are hoping to produce a mighty upset, almost as they did in their opening match of the season.

The loss of John Fraley will be eased somewhat, judging on the back of Friday night’s top of the table clash, as both offence and defence looks to be solid and well drilled.

The worry for Leicester will come from how Cheshire react after last week’s defeat; the team unity in difficult times could be the driving force behind a surprise performance, but Marks is hoping that his side can put to the back of their minds any preconceptions based on last month’s clash.

Speaking this week ahead of the game, he said: “We saw what Leicester were like in our first game, but we’re not going to try and think about that or whether they come in to the game on the back of a win. On the night, I just want the guys to play hard, and they want to play hard.

“We have Chris here now, who is really going to help step things up for us, and he’s settled in very well, and also has that slight edge of BBL experience that can help out on court.”