Eagles eager for more

"Coming so soon after last week's dramatics, how soon before the Raiders have to issue a health warning at the Pavilions for those of a nervous disposition?"
Daniel Routledge Quotes of the week

Far be it from me to pre-empt this Friday's trophy semi-final second leg, but if Newcastle don't go through with a 32-point lead from the away leg it make Devon Loch's 1956 Grand National performance look pretty ordinary.

Waiting for them in the final are Plymouth Raiders who performed a herculean recovery to oust Milton Keynes last weekend. Having lost the first leg in MK by six, the Raiders were still trailing by that aggregate score with 49 ticks left in the game, before Jeremy Bell put on his superman cape and fired them into the final.

Three free throws and a three-pointer from last year's MVP took the game to overtime and then he poured in another ten points in the extra period to lead the Raiders to an eight-point win on the night and a two-point aggregate win.

Coming so soon after last week's dramatics, how soon before the Raiders have to issue a health warning at the Pavilions for those of a nervous disposition?

Damaging

So with my opening caveat in place, the question now is do the Raiders have it within them to defeat the Eagles?

For the record, the only other time the same sides have competed in both the Cup and the Trophy Final, Sheffield won the Cup handsomely but lost in the Trophy to Thames Valley.

Interestingly this year's final is going to be over two legs, the first time in living memory that a major trophy has been decided in this way. I've never been a fan of two-legged basketball, it goes against the nature of the game in my mind - would Newcastle have beaten Sheffield by 32 last week if it was a league game? I very much doubt it - but it does offer an intriguing proposition for the rematch.

To be clear, my money would be on Newcastle irrespective of the format; I think their exploits in the Cup Final were psychologically damaging to the Raiders and the way they are playing right now I'd take the Eagles over anyone.

Ordinarily I suspect you'd want the second leg at home, but in this scenario I reckon it would be better for Plymouth to have the home leg first. Try and get that home support to give you something to take to Tyneside. There is nothing worse than starting a home game behind by a significant margin; at least in the first leg it starts 0-0.

If they could get a lead of eight or more it might just sow some seeds of doubt in the Eagles' heads. And lest we forget the Trophy Final of 2007 when these sides met at Newcastle Arena and the Raiders lifted the prize.

Interestingly they are scheduled to play two league games in a week at the end of the month, I think it is imperative to Plymouth's trophy chances that they win at least one of those games. To win the league, they might need them both.

Intriguing

I had a brief chat with Nate Reinking at the weekend and am pleased to report his knee injury is not going to impact on his Olympic participation. It's scant comfort to Sharks fans whose side are going to be without their best player for at least a month, but having known Nate for about 16 years, I'm pleased for him on a personal level that the damage wasn't more significant.

It was such an innocuous collision with his own team-mate in our televised game a couple of weeks ago, I did fear the worst at one stage. No-one has given more to the GB cause in recent years so he deserves his Olympic appearance.

All eyes this Saturday will be on Worcester as the Raiders play the Wolves in what is a must-win top-of-the-table for Paul James' squad.

Having dropped a two-point thriller to Newcastle at home last weekend, a sixth defeat of the campaign would probably put the title beyond the Wolves. Having played in league, cup and trophy already this season, this will be the sixth meeting of the campaign between these two squads with Worcester leading 3-2 in the head-to-head.

Plymouth's two wins have both been big and both been in Worcester in the more meaningful knock-out games, but in the league meeting Worcester won 77-76 at home, how the Wolves would dearly love a repeat of that this weekend. With Raiders on a high following their trophy victory last week, it'll be an intriguing game.