As a dress rehearsal for the upcoming SLB Trophy Final in February against London Lions, the Newcastle Eagles 50-76 defeat on Friday night in the Vertu Arena was not a good audition. With the Lions also visiting Newcastle in a fortnight in the SLB Cup it sends out a worrying message.

But basketball has a funny way of turning things around and no matter how much London dominated on Friday a different day will bring a different game. Eagles Head Coach Marc Steutel who won the SLB December Coach of the Month award was a disappointed man at the end of the game.

“We held them to 76 points which was within our defensive target but offensively I had a specific focus for this group on trying to maximise who they are and to do that I’ve had to take a little step back here and there.”

“That comes from the responsibility of the players and I don’t think they stepped up to that responsibility in this game. It’s disappointing as I feel like we’ve been taking steps in the right direction. Really finding a clear way to play.”

“Offensively it felt like there was a lid on the basket and we weren’t getting the right shot quality. We know their DNA is defensively. We prepared I felt the right way with such a good week of practice and high-level basketball.”

“But we came out on Friday couldn’t find any rhythm or consistency. The game was our offensive shot quality. I’m disappointed that the players continue to make the same mistakes. Early on we had to try and find a way but played into their hands with coverages and what they tried to achieve.”

“The players on the floor didn’t make an adjustment to that. I’ve said it to the group that I’m not a good loser and ever will be. I can accept a loss if we play fully committed and how we want to play. We didn’t do that in this game and that’s really what stings.”

“I felt there was an opportunity to take things forward and that was the challenge I had with the group. I wanted this to be part of our journey and part of our consistency and we just didn’t get that so it’s really frustrating.”

Such though is the beauty of top-flight SLB Basketball that on Sunday the Eagles get a chance to bounce straight back as they return to the scene of last week’s Trophy semi-final success to take on Cheshire again in a Championship game as Steutel continued.

“It’ll be a completely different game. London and Cheshire have two contrasting styles. We have to get ourselves prepared for that physically and mentally and the payers can’t feel sorry for themselves. It’s a tough place to play. The environment is difficult you’ve got 500+ kids screaming at you.”

“You can’t really hear yourselves a lot. I feel like it’s two teams that know each other inside out by now. I’m sure they’ll want to come out with a different level of energy after last weekend. We have to be prepared for that as it’s a completely different team and scenario.”

“We’ve done a really good job statistically against Cheshire in the games we’ve had against them this year. We’ve caused them some problems defensively but there’s no given that’s going to happen again. “We have to make sure we apply ourselves, not feel sorry for ourselves and push on.”

Another day, another vital game and another tough task for the Eagles. Tip-off in Cheshire is at 5:30pm on Sunday evening and the game is live and free to watch on DAZN.