[20 DEC 09] CRUSADER NEWS

 Leopards Match Reaction

with Dave Edden

By Adam Manning 

Coventry Crusaders’ Dave Edden displayed his delight at the 101-92 over time victory against London Leopards last Saturday, and revealed that the Crusaders’ determination not to take a losing feeling into the Christmas break was enough motivation to get the side up for the game.

Coventry came out of the traps with a relentless attacking urge, racing 13 points ahead before Leopards had chance to register their first points of the game.

And Edden says the desire to put things right as a team was the reason for Coventry’s ruthless, resilient attitude from the first to the final buzzer to bounce back from last week’s disappointing loss to London Mets.

“It feels so good” enthused the power forward. “It was the last game before Christmas, and we’ve had so many games where we’ve lost when we shouldn’t have, and we just wanted this win badly. We trained hard this week and had a good laugh together, and we just brought it to them straight away” he explained.

“Last week it was disappointing, but today you could tell by everyone’s faces that it was a really important win before Christmas. It was a really good performance.”

Despite Crusaders racking up a large advantage in the first few minutes, Leopards fought back with a twelve point run of their own in the same quarter. This epitomised the nature of the game which saw the score line change sixteen times, and Crusaders unable to regain their first quarter lead until the fourth, after letting Leopards edge ahead in the second with the game’s top scorer Latham-Henry dribbling towards the hoop for two pointers, whilst Jonny Wright punished Coventry from long range with his three point prowess.

Crusaders battled back though, regaining the lead three times in the fourth, and being vigilant on the second ball around their own hoop, with Stephen Danso, Ryann Samuel and John Olinger all on hand to control the ball and start frequent offensive sets.

On top of that, Edden, who was Crusaders’ top scorer in the game with 23 which was also his highest tally so far this season, believes his side got their game plan right in restricting Leopards’ target man Leigh Greenan, who notched 13 on the night.

He added:” They’ve got some really good individuals on their team that are hard to stop, so we tried shutting them down, but their big boy is hard to stop, but we double teamed him which helped. That forced them to shoot outside shots which helped us a lot; because I don’t think they’re a big shooting team, I think they’re more of a “take it to the hole” team.”

He also paid tribute to the fans, who made their voices heard every time a Crusaders player edged the side ahead towards the end.

“Everybody (the team) wanted it and we were all on the same page, and when they came on everyone came up with the urge to win, so there was a lot more energy.

“We even got the crowd going as well, and I think once you see the crowd getting a bit more pumped up, it helps as well because you get more confidence”.

As for the long three week break, the 6’5 target man spoke of his determination to keep on top of his own game and eradicate any complacency within the team, amid a time where no formal activities are planned until the New Year.

“There’s no break” he stressed. “We get a Christmas break but Ill make sure that I’m practicing everyday and I’m sure everyone else will be practicing. We just want to carry it on and not go backwards. We beat Sheffield and went a few steps back again, so it’s important that we keep moving forward and aren’t big headed”.

“As far as I know we haven’t got many team matches organised over Christmas which isn’t very good I don’t think. We’re supposed to be back during January, but I know I’m going to be coming down here every morning and I’m sure some of my team mates will be”.

Crusaders start off 2010 against two newly promoted sides. On 9^th January they go looking for their first away win of the season up at fourth placed Leeds Carnegie, before they return to the Coventry Sports Centre on 16^th January for a feisty encounter against local rivals Leicester Warriors, tip off 7:30pm.

                               

  Main Menu | News | Leopards Match Reaction   20 DEC 2009