Force looking to turn the tables on Leicester

Leeds Force hit the road for the first time in the BBL as they travel to the Leicester Riders tomorrow looking to right the wrong of the last time the two sides met.
Matt Newby.Matt Newby.
Matt Newby.

It was only a week ago when the two franchises went toe-to-toe in the Carnegie Sports Arena, the result however, was one nobody expected.

The unbeaten Riders put on a master class as they dispatched the Force to the heaviest defeat of their short history with the scoreboard reading 103-39.

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Leicester dominated the court from tip-off to the final buzzer as they had an answer for everything the Force threw at them.

As the game drifted away the Leeds heads dropped which allowed the Riders to pounce and there was no let up in their attack.

Coach Matt Newby’s players don’t have time to lick their wounds or feel sorry for themselves as they have to find away to put in a better performance tomorrow.

“When you come up against a side like Leicester you have to do the little things right and we didn’t do that,” said Newby.

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The coach said he has had to put an arm around some of his younger Force players to help them get over the defeat.

He said: “Some players took it harder than others, it’s not easy to take for anyone. It is a reality check for us.”

After a difficult weekend Newby has seen a good response from his roster in training as they look to tweak some things going into the second game of the series.

“The boys have been strong in training this week which is good. We have to put things right on Sunday which won’t be easy.

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“We need to change a few things around for sure. They knew our game, it will be naive to think we can go down there with the same tactics and expect a different result.’

Having seen firsthand the strength and ability of the Riders, Newby has high praise for coach Rob Paternostro’s men.

“That is the best side I have seen in two decades of being in the game, full stop. They are by far the strongest team in the league.”

The roster has a few injury concerns going into the game with Rob Marsden’s fitness under review having only trained once before playing last week.

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Jermaine Sanders suffered a broken nose and will see a specialist before they travel down to Leicester to see if he can play or not.

The Force are currently on a three-game losing streak across all competitions and the games are coming thick and fast.

After the Riders game tomorrow, Leeds face-off against the London Lions in a midweek fixture, with the Lions having dispatched Newcastle Eagles in their own back yard.

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