Sharks out for Newcastle revenge

Sheffield get the chance to gain immediate revenge when they travel to face Newcastle in a repeat of last weekend’s match-up.

The Eagles came away from EIS Sheffield 86-67 winners to set out an early claim on the BBL championship, but the Sharks will be looking to return the favour straight away when the two sides meet on Friday.

Sharks captain Adrian Anderson said: “Newcastle came in and played well. They were well prepared on offence, and they played hard as a team whereas we didn’t.

“We need to stick to our game plan, play effective defence and run our offences properly. I hope we can bounce back after losing like that on our home court, and hopefully it will inspire our guys to look at their individual performances and aim to do better. We need the pride and integrity to get back on track.”

For Newcastle, they will be looking to repeat their success of last week, even if they are once again without Charles Smith.

Captain Andrew Bridge said: “We shot the three really well, I think we hit 14 of 31 and we only turned it over six times. That was a big improvement as we’d turned it over 25 and 22 in the last two games, and we stopped them in transition by limiting that, and that took away one of their strengths.

“Rarely do you beat a team by 20 points in successive weeks, and I’m sure they’ll play a lot better.”