Newcastle Eagles head into Sunday evening’s clash in Ellesmere Port against Cheshire Phoenix on the back of a disappointing home loss last Friday against Bristol Flyers.
Head Coach Marc Steutel and his players have spend the week responding to that loss and preparing to bounce back.
“Last week wasn’t a game we were particularly pleased with,” said Steutel.
“You look back and seven games in 21 days with a seven-man roster that side of it has to be acknowledged. We’ve had a really positive week.
“We were in over last weekend watching the game back. The guys were really impressive in their approach to learning and reviewing. We then tried to attack this week every single day and I’ve been really proud.
“The energy this week. The focus and the discipline with trying to improve as a basketball team. So, I’ve been really pleased as a coach this week.”
The Bristol result was as much a surprise as it was a disappointment. But on the same weekend unbeaten London lost to Leicester who had been previously winless. Bristol then followed up their win at Newcastle with a home loss to Surrey 89ers.
Cheshire meanwhile were involved in two games going to overtime a win at Manchester and then a tough loss at Sheffield in a game that went to double overtime, confirming how competitive and fierce Super League Basketball (SLB) is this season.
“Any weekend anyone can absolutely beat anyone. The League is exciting and it’s fun. We’re enjoying it and enjoying the competition and hope our fans are too,” Steutel added.
“It means you’ve got to be on your best at every moment of every day to make sure you achieve what we want and achieve our goals. The league is positive the level of players the coaching in the league the level of organisations in the league and it’s really positive for British basketball.”
The first fixture of the campaign against the Phoenix will bring a challenge for the Eagles and the hosts will be looking to lay down a marker as they return home for the first time in three games.
“On that everybody including Cheshire are tough particularly at home. There won’t be any surprises with Cheshire”, Steutel continued.
“They won’t do anything we aren’t aware of. We have to make sure we can limit areas of their game and make sure you exploit them they way we want too.
“They are tough at home. Minus the Sheffield game last weekend, they’ve scored heavily in multiple games putting a 100+ points on the board. We want to try and slow them down. To do that we have to be forceful and play with a level of discipline to make sure we’re at our best.”
As ever the Eagles Head Coach has a positive outlook before the game and is excited about the prospect of getting back on the court with his team.
“We’re looking forward to it. We want to get back to the best version of being us. We know Cheshire are coming off the back of that tough loss at Sheffield.”
“Before that they’d have been happy with the wins that they racked up over Manchester and Liverpool. So, we expect a good game a really good atmosphere. It’s a lively venue and we’re looking forward to doing what we can.”
The match-up on Sunday evening at the Ellesmere Port Sporting Village tips-off at 5:30pm as the two sides both look for a vitally important win.
Fans can follow the action live and for free on DAZN.
