Recap

The Eagles U23 were looking to push on and take the top spot in D4 North with their closest rivals Doncaster not playing… They were up against a Stockport team that finds themselves mid table… The Eagles were without the injured Chris Linsley again but had Themba Yabantu in their team…

The game was played in a very good atmosphere with plenty of fans watching from the balcony… The Falcons were first on the board but it was the hosts who looked most comfortable doubling the points to make it 15-10 at the 5th minute… The home side in black then went on a mini run of 10-0 making it 27-12… Both teams traded scores to go in at the break 30-19….

The Eagles started the 2nd period slowly as the Falcons in green had the better of the 5 minutes with their top scorer Barry Plumber and Travis scoring 10 between them as the boys in black missed a hatful of chances making it 35-30… Eagles then got their scoring touch back and they ramped up the defensive pressure restricting the Falcons to only 4 more points… The home side started scoring freely and with contribution from all their players went into the half time at 60-34 up… (30-15)

The 3rd quarter saw the Eagles have the better exchanges in the early part as they edged it 10-6 making it 70-40… Then the Falcons went on a 0-9 run forcing the Eagles into a time out to steady the ship at 70-49… The boys in black came out of the time out and took the remaining 3 minutes 7-3 making it 77-52 after 3 periods… (17-18)

The 4th quarter was a very high scoring affair with the Eagles putting on a bit of a shooting fest with 5 triples in their 34 points but defensively they lost their way a bit as the Falcons especially Plummer leaking out all the time as he scored 18 points personally. The Falcons then had a player ejected from the game as Travis was given his marching orders for his second unsportsmanlike foul… The Eagles closed out the game at 111-78… (34-26)

Eagles U23 Head Coach Graham Heath said “We played very well with the exception of the 3rd period… The 4th wasn’t good because we lost focus due to being home and dry… Also Plummer for Stockport didn’t play any defence in the 4th he just cherry picked for his personal points… It was good to get Theo Riley going offensively and we had 5 players in double figures and everyone on the score sheet…”

Eagles Top Scorers- Domantas Karpinskas 22, Theo Riley 20, Rafael Camargo Blas 14, Themba Yabantu 12 and Tom Usher 12….