Why defeat to Caledonia Gladiators adds fuel to the fire for Sheffield Hatters in bid to join Sharks in SLB Cup final

Hatters welcome Newcastle Eagles to the Canon Medical Arena tonight for a Cup semi-final with a place in the final against unbeaten Oaklands Wolves up for grabs.

Also at stake is the chance to join their stablemates at the Canon Medical Arena, Sheffield Sharks, in the women’s and men’s Cup final double-header in Nottingham on Sunday, March 9.

While homegrown talent Georgia Gayle knows just how much that means for this historic club, it is their immediate history that is of most concern. Hatters were narrowly beaten by Caledonia in Scotland on Sunday, with Gayle proclaiming: “I think it’ll fuel us a bit more, knowing we have had a loss, we want to get back to winning ways and hopefully people will be ready to go.

“It’d be great for the whole organisation to have an all Sheffield representation in the final.

“For Hatters ourselves, we’ve worked for it and it would be nice for that hard work to pay off.”

Sheffield will go into the game two wins better off than Newcastle in the league, but they were favoured in last year’s play-off quarter-final on their home court against the same opposition, only to come a cropper to a tactical masterclass from former Leeds Force head coach Matt Newby, who has since left the role of Eagles coach.

Is there anything Hatters can learn from that occasion?

“That we can’t be complacent, we’ve got to play as a team,” said Great Britain international Gayle.

“A big thing for us is our communication on defence and playing for the full 40 minutes and not letting up.”

Defeat to Caledonia at least means Sheffield won’t go in under-cooked which is becoming a problem in a women’s league where the gap between top and bottom is vast. In the men’s Super League Basketball, each of the top three - including the Sharks - have lost four games, while in the women’s league the Wolves are top with a 100 per cent winning record and the London Lions are bottom with no win to their name.

“Caledonia play very physically and we’re finding that because there’s such a big gap between top and bottom, we’re not necessarily prepared for those tough games when they come along,” said Gayle.

“We play some teams and it’s not necessarily that tough of a competition so when we come to those games, it’s not necessarily a shock, but we’re not used to having to play like that week in, week out.”