“Beware the wounded animal.” Wise words some might say but words that certainly rang true in the Vertu Arena on Friday night. Manchester came north on the back of three consecutive SLB losses and having parted company with Head Coach Matt Otten on Thursday.

The Eagles came into the game with a fortnight’s rest since they went back-to-back home league wins following up a big win over Bristol Flyers with another over Caledonia Gladiators. Everything pointed to an obvious prediction.

But that’s the beauty of professional sport at the highest level. You can not take anything for granted nor can you just turn up expecting to win. Wins in any sport but particularly a sport like basketball where it is forty minutes of intense high-octane action have to be earned.

Manchester defied the odds and most of the pundits and turned in probably their best SLB Championship performance of the season to take a win in front of a packed but stunned Eagles faithful following. It did not go as was scripted.

From the first tip to the last the game was in doubt. Eagles played good resolute defence for most of the game but perhaps not at the same levels as they had done in the previous two wins. Manchester for their part seemed to play with more freedom than they had shown previously.

It seemed obvious from the start that this was going to be a tough tightly fought fierce contest and so it proved. Eagles after going behind early fought back well in the first period and on a Tavis Smith triple led 15 – 11.

Manchester came back but Newcastle just held sway after the opening ten minutes to lead by a single point at 22 – 21. The second period was where the biggest disparity lay in the end and it was a very good quarter for the visitors.

Manchester stifled Newcastle’s offence and took them away from the traits they had shown in the previous two home games and deserved credit for that. At times in the opening couple of quarters the Eagles looked like a team that had not played for two weeks and that made a difference.

Twice Head Coach Steutel’s side opened up a four-point gap. At 27 – 23 on three Cole Long free throws and then again at 31 – 27 on a Blondeau Tchoukiegno triple. But again, the visitors hit back and this time produced ten unanswered points to open a six-point gap.

A gap they managed to maintain all the way to the half-time buzzer to take a 44 – 38 lead into the locker rooms and for the first time at home this season ask the Eagles some serious questions ahead of the second twenty minutes.

Initially Manchester having played three games, albeit losses, in the same period where Newcastle had not played looked the more cohesive of the two units as the third period unfolded. An 11 – 3 run in the first five minutes of the second half giving them a 14-point lead.

It was looking tough for Newcastle, but they are a tough side this season and they showed their mettle with Cam Christon in particular in good scoring touch they fought back to level the period. It still meant a six-point gap going into the final quarter, but Eagles had momentum.

Tchoukiegno drove his side on with crucial scores. Smith made a couple of vital shots and suddenly with 2:27 left in the game it was a one-point match-up at 75 – 76. But the effort put in to haul themselves back into the contest more or less ended there.

Despite quite a few opportunities to not just completely close the gap but even go in front the ball just would not fall through the net particular for Smith whose high calibre scoring dried up at just the wrong time.

It meant a frustrating ending to the game as Manchester just held on and took advantage of some late free throws to close out the game handing Newcastle their first home loss of the 2026/27 SLB Championship campaign.