The Newcastle Eagles face their third long trip south in as many weeks as they look to get back to winning ways in the SLB Championship tonight. Last week it was Oaklands and a first loss in six matches against the table topping Wolves.
This time it’s Essex Rebels in another tough challenge for Chloe Gaynor and her side. The Rebels won last weekend 109 – 87 against Nottingham and are currently on a 7 wins 7 losses record fighting to improve their play-off position.
Eagles dropped to 10 wins 4 losses after defeat at Oaklands but have the advantage of knowing they beat the Rebels 83 – 71 back in December in The Vertu Motors Arena. Head Coach Gaynor began her preview of the Rebels clash by reviewing and reflecting on the loss at Oaklands.
“I think last week we didn’t put ourselves in a position to be successful and we allowed them to be the aggressor and that ultimately showed in the result. The girls have really attacked practice this week which has been great to see both with our on court and off court activities.”
It was always going to be a big ask to take down the Wolves on their own court and in the end that’s how it proved. Now Gaynor and her players have to re-focus and go again. They are still in a great position as they approach the business end of the season as the Coach pointed out.
“We are absolutely confident in our ability to bounce straight back. I think the results we’ve had are a testament to the quality of the team we have and the work they put in and I have no doubt they’ll want to get back to winning ways today.”
But as stated it won’t be easy. Another long trip and then having to play once you get to the venue is never easy especially against a tough opponent.
“Of course, it is hard to travel these long distances and back-to-back too, but it’s the nature of the beast. At the end of the day, we have a job to do and we’ll try our best to do it no matter the circumstances.”
Despite the way her side have been playing and despite having already beaten Essex on their own court, the Eagles will not take anything for granted and know they have to locked in and focused for the task ahead if they want to stay in the top four of the table.
“I think we’ve seen from their last game that they are team capable of putting a high number of points on the board. They’ve been very solid all season and have talented and dangerous players throughout their roster.”
“With that, our focus has to be on the defensive end of the floor and then we can generate our offense from there. If we look after our own game and follow the scout then hopefully we’ll get the result we want to get us back on track immediately.”
The game at the University of Essex’s Sports Arena Colchester tips off at 16:00pm and Newcastle will hope to arrive in good heart looking to take another win on the road.
