[04 FEB 10] CRUSADER NEWS

 Derby Trailblazers Match Preview

Coventry Crusaders vs. Derby Trailblazers

Where: Coventry Sports Centre , Fairfax Street, Coventry, CV1 5RY.

When: Saturday 6th February 2010

Tip Off: 7:30pm

Competition: EBL Division One

By Adam Manning

COVENTRY Crusaders boss Scott Neely has told his players to “make sure they fight” as his side take on league leaders Derby Trailblazers on Saturday night after failing to add to the squad before the January 31 transfer deadline.

Neely is looking for some more consistency at both ends of their home court this evening, which has provided Crusaders with all of their eight points out of a possible 24 so far this term.

Crusaders followed up their 110-93 home victory over Tees Valley Mohawks two weeks ago with a 91-81 loss at Reading Rockets less than 24 hours later, with first and fourth quarter victories not enough for Coventry to consolidate their play-off place after sneaking into eighth place past Reading a day earlier.

“We can beat any team in the league, it’s just we need to play well and to our strengths” Neely insisted.

“We really need to have a committed forty minutes of defence and also making some great decisions on offense, and also consistently trying to stay disciplined and aggressive, and if we do that then we can compete with all teams”. 

Referring to the recent defeat at Reading, he added: “Sometimes we’ll do it for twenty minutes, and then we’ve got another twenty minutes where we fluctuate up and down. So it’s really to encourage them to stay on the same page as a team and make sure we fight because it is recognising our strengths. Derby doesn’t really have a team that’s been up for very long, so we may be able to get them to lose some momentum”.

Saturday’s opponents sit top of the pile with a 10-2 record and level on 20 points with Leeds Carnegie, not to mention a National Trophy semi-final berth at London Mets on Sunday afternoon, and Neely believes the balance of experience has been key to their dramatic success, which before this season, saw Derby finish sixth and eighth in their first two seasons in Division One.

“They’ve got a really good mix of young talent and older experienced players, and that’s why I think they’re top of the league. They do have that experience that they can rely on when they’re in matches that go to the wire. There’s Dave Attewell who’s the league’s leading rebounder, they’ve also got guard Stedroy Baker who was a long time BBL player who’s experienced. They’re strong competitors and really fight for the wins and that’s where they’ve been good.

“Someone I really respect is their point guard Matthew Shaw. He’s the league’s leading assist man and he’s done a really solid job of leading the team and controlling the tempo, he’s a crucial player for them. He and Baker is a nice combination because they add a different mix to the leadership of the team”.

As for his own side Neely couldn’t find any improved personnel before the deadline, saying: “we looked at a couple of people that came through, but I thought it was best to work with the team that we have and to continue to develop and grow together towards the play-offs when hopefully we’ll be playing our best basketball at that time”.

Crusaders guard Kane Hudson has three weeks to go in his rehabilitation from a knee injury sustained in a mid-week basketball game, and Crusaders had an injury scare earlier this week when it emerged that Dan Taylor jarred his shoulder playing for Coventry University in their 71-78 loss in a crunch game with local rivals Warwick, but he is expected to be fit for tonight’s game.

Crusaders team expected to face Derby:  4 Joe Francombe (guard);

5 John Olinger (c) (guard); 7 Matt Smith (power forward),

9 Dan Taylor (guard/forward); 10 Simon Payne (guard/forward);

11 Stephen Danso (guard); 12 Dave Edden (forward); 13 Ryann Samuel (forward);

15 Ben Timms (centre/forward).

 

Derby Trailblazers team expected to face Crusaders: 4 Stedroy Baker (guard);

6 Jamie McGaffin (guard); 7 Simon Allaway (guard); 8 Martin Gayle (guard);

9 Simon Spencer (guard); 10 Mark Woodhouse (forward); 11 Paul Bowen (centre);

12 Matt Shaw (c) (guard); 13 Sam O’Shea (forward); 14 Dave Attewell (centre);

15 Joel Madourie (forward).

 

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