Rob Marsden: Leeds Force out to deliver early present against Plymouth Raiders

It was a frustrating weekend for me. I was desperate for there to be a game for Leeds Force after the win we picked up against Manchester Giants.
Under the radar:  Rob Marsdens verdict on Forces American import Jermaine Sanders.Under the radar:  Rob Marsdens verdict on Forces American import Jermaine Sanders.
Under the radar: Rob Marsdens verdict on Forces American import Jermaine Sanders.

Alas, there was not and we have to wait until the weekend and a double-header with Bristol Flyers on Friday night (7.30pm) and the visit of Plymouth Raiders to the Carnegie Sports Arena (4pm) on Sunday.

That win in Manchester was a big milestone for us, so we wanted to get out back out on the court and carry on the momentum.

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The week’s rest hasn’t derailed that in truth, but when you get that winning feeling you want to keep reliving it.

Rob Sandoval: Impressed with recent performances for Leeds Force.Rob Sandoval: Impressed with recent performances for Leeds Force.
Rob Sandoval: Impressed with recent performances for Leeds Force.

But, we have had extra sessions in training and there has been no let up as we have been solidifying our tactics.

We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, there are some big games coming up before Christmas against teams around us, so it’s important to pick up points.

It’s Bristol up first on Friday night. On paper it should be one of the easier match-ups for us with them having only one win.

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But, trust me, there is no easy game in the British Basketball League.

Rob Sandoval: Impressed with recent performances for Leeds Force.Rob Sandoval: Impressed with recent performances for Leeds Force.
Rob Sandoval: Impressed with recent performances for Leeds Force.

We can’t afford to take them lightly.

If we aren’t 100 per cent they can easily come away with the points.

That one win is all you need to get a run going and then you can shoot up the table.

Then on the Sunday we have the Plymouth Raiders coming in to the Carnegie Sports Arena.This is a big one for the club as a whole as it’s for our final home game of 2016.

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We plan to give you an early Christmas present with the Force sitting in the play-off spots when you are opening your presents on December 25 .

Four points are very possible this weekend.

And to be honest, I will be very disappointed if we come away with anything less.

The boys are looking good. You just have to look at Rob Sandoval’s performances against Worcester Wolves and Manchester Giants recently.

Superb – even though he scored a few more points than me! Rob’s been doing that in training since he joined.

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I’m happy for him that he’s also doing it on the court, game in, game out.

Jermaine Sanders is another one of our American imports who has settled in really well.

He has gone very much under the radar since he came to Leeds in the summer.

But Jermaine has been awesome for us this season and if he can continue that into this period of games over the Christmas period, we will be tough to stop.

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I wish I could tell you I got up to something cool and exciting in the weekend off, but I didn’t really. In truth, I just stayed in and watched the football.

I bet like most of you, Sergio Aguero was in your fantasy football team. He cost me some serious points.

I took Alexis Sanchez out my team a few weeks ago too and he goes and scores a hat-trick. Typical.

Anyway back to basketball. It’s a big week for us and I’m sure we can count on your support to get us over the line.

We Are Force!

Interview: Arif Ahmed

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