With the SLB Trophy Final against London Lions at Birmingham looming large on the horizon next Sunday, you could almost forgive Newcastle Eagles for thinking they do not need the distraction of a midweek European game.

The Eagles are at home to KK Dubrava of Croatia on Tuesday night in the Vertu Arena in a European North Basketball League qualifying round clash. Newcastle currently sitting well outside the play-off positions with a one win five loss record.

Whilst Head Coach Marc Steutel is resigned to the fact that his side cannot qualify for the next stage of the competition he still feels that it is a game that Newcastle have to take seriously and give their all in.

“The game is important because we’re in a position where every game is important. We have to try and play good basketball string as many good possessions together as we can. Continue to stat. good possessions, continue to build trust and consistency.”

“Hopefully, the guys can get some confidence from doing the right things and playing the right way. If we do that hopefully by the end of the game we can feel really good about ourselves.”

The Eagles were actually handed a win in the competition when Go+ Peja of Kosovo were eliminated from the ENBL following multiple forfeits. Newcastle now not needing to go to Kosovo on February 11th and being given a 20-0 awarded victory.

It means that they can finish well and get to three wins for the Pool stage if they can get a victory on Tuesday and then again in their last home game on Friday February 6 against BK Olomoucko of the Czech Republic. Steutel is decisive about his stance for Tuesday.

“We want to win the game. Every game we plan we want to win the game. It’s disappointing that in this season’s ENBL we only have two games left in the season and we haven’t achieved what we wanted to achieve in that competition.”

“Sometimes though that’s life and you’ve got to dust yourself off and build again. So, we want to win the game and we’ll do everything we can to do so.”

KK Dubrava are currently sitting just outside the play-off positions having won three at home and lost They on the road of their six games. Last time out the Croatians defeated the ENBL leaders 72-67 to show their calibre.

Two wins for the Czechs would see them make the play-offs with even the possibility of one from two being enough. So, Steutel knows they will represent a tough challenge for his side but is more focused on his own team and players going into the game.

“Dubrava are a good team. It’s good that we’ve had an injection of Croatian teams in the ENBL this season and they’ve all been competitive. They obviously beat Iraklis at home so we know they are a really good basketball team.”

“We just have to make sure it’s about us and we play our way. Put good possessions together and hopefully we do all that we can to build our performance going forward.”

With a current losing streak of seven games across four different competitions a win on Tuesday night would be a great way to get back to winning ways and inject some confidence into Newcastle before that SLB Trophy showdown with London Lions.

Tickets for this Tuesday night game tipping-off at 7:30pm are still available from the box office.