The Newcastle Eagles women go into Saturday evening’s SLB Betty Cordona Group match at Nottingham Wildcats knowing they need a win to have any chance of qualifying for the final four of the competition.

With games to come against Manchester and Caledonia to complete the group stage a win to reverse last week’s heavy defeat at home against Sheffield is what Head Coach Chloe Gaynor really needs to keep the campaign alive.

But it won’t be easy. The various paperwork restrictions that saw Eagles suit up two players down and with Gaynor herself having to suit up against Sheffield are still around. It means that once again Newcastle will be short-handed for their second competitive fixture of the fledgling season.

Gaynor reflected on that as she previewed the trip to Nottingham as well as casting her thoughts back to the defeat by Sheffield.

“It was a tough result. Given the players we had available they did a good job of fighting and battling through. Having limited numbers and then players in foul trouble they didn’t stop playing and that’s a really positive sign and progression for the season.”

“If you can be down by as many as we were, at times 30+, and continue to fight right until the end then that’s a pleasing sign for me as a coach. It left us with a lot to think about with regards to how we play.”

“ We definitely didn’t play up to the standards we set ourselves or the standards we’d set at Caledonia the week before in pre-season. We’ve done extensive film off the back of it. Talking about what we expect and the identity of basketball that we want to play.”

So, how will Gaynor and her players compensate for the fact that they will still not have a full roster to call on against the Wildcats.

“It’s next-man-up. I’ll play a little bit to help on the floor with our line and we just problem solve. That’s what basketball is. We miss people at the start of a game but equally someone could go down with an injury during the game or something else might happen that means you don’t have players available.”

“You don’t necessarily have time to dwell on that. Whoever is available has to step up and play and it’s sharing the load within that and making sure that we’re smart with our minutes, taking breaks and doing whatever we can as a unit.”

Turning her attention to the game against Nottingham, Gaynor admits it’s a bit of an unknown quantity for her team and herself and that they will need to look at themselves as much as they will the opposition in front of them.

“We haven’t seen them yet and they haven’t played a game yet so it’s hard to know truly what their identity is and what their players do. You can scout individual players but ultimately everyone looks different in the team and system they are in.”

“For us its about knowing our personnel understanding the skill sets of the individuals in front of us and trying to push them into areas where we think they’ll struggle. Us personally it’s about taking another step forward in the identity we want to tell offensively and defensively.”

“We did a good job at times on Sunday and we did a bad job on Sunday at both ends of the floor. We just need to play more team basketball.”

“Against Sheffield we were very iso-based and that’s not how we want to play and that’s something that’s not going to be successful for us. We just need to lean more into team basketball and developing that.”

It’s not an easy task for Gaynor to shuffle the pack at the moment and ensure everyone is getting connected and being able to play meaningful minutes whilst the complexities of administration wrangle over the Club. But she sees better days ahead.

“I think it’s something that’s going to be resolved. Paul (Blake) and everyone here is working tremendously hard behind the scenes. The girls that are affected are ready to be on the floor and we’re reading to have them on the floor with us.”

“I think as a ‘12’ we’ll be really strong and with that we’re excited to have them back with us. We miss them when they’re not with us. Everyone is doing what they can right now and it’s a waiting game until that point.”

The game at Nottingham tips off at 17:00pm and it’s not clear if it will be streamed live. However it can be followed live via the SLB Women’s website and the various Newcastle Eagles social media channels.