Guildford Heat coach Creon Raftopoulos has labelled this weekend’s clash with Cheshire Jets as the biggest game of the season so far as his team look to confirm their play-off spot in the next few weeks.

Sitting in 7^th position and on the back of a three game winning streak, confidence is high in the camp going into this weekend’s meeting with 9^th placed Cheshire.

Raftopoulos is aware that his team need to continue winning games and can certainly not allow a team like Chesire to gain points on them.

Speaking to bblfans.com, he said: “I don’t think we have had a bigger game all season that what this Cheshire game is going to be. This is the first of what will be many cup finals for us.”

“We hope to get over other teams, so victory in this one will go a long way in terms of our aim to get one of those play-off spots.”

As for the recent form, Raftopoulos is understandably delighted with three successive wins and he believes that team spirit has played a massive part in the recent success.

“In the past three games we have got confidence, happiness in the team. When you’ve got a happy team, your performances are going to be a bit better.”

“The biggest problem that we have had is injuries throughout the season. This is the longest we have had the group to build team chemistry. This has then been a key factor in us getting these wins.”

There was certainly some fighting spirit on display in the last BBL game of course, with Guildford recovering from a slow start to defeat the Durham Wildcats.

Referring to this game, Raftopoulos continued: “I was naturally disappointed with the first quarter. We spoke the whole week about not being complacent or taking Durham for granted. Credit to them for coming out fighting, but I wasn’t happy with the way we started.”

“We got our act together in the second quarter, so that made me very happy. We then maintained our professionalism for the remainder of the game.”

Raftopoulos then reiterated his determination to secure a play-off spot in the next few weeks, saying that his team are going from ‘strength to strength’ at the moment.

He will hope this continues against the Cheshire Jets in front of an expectant home crowd on Sunday from 5.30pm.

Guildford Heat coach Creon Raftopoulos has labelled this weekend’s clash with Cheshire Jets as the biggest game of the season so far as his team look to confirm their play-off spot in the next few weeks.

(more…)