Eagles look to finish season on a real high

THERE certainly seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the Newcastle Eagles as they now look certain to finish in the top two of the BBL Championship for the 10th season running.

Fab Flournoy’s men had only won one of their previous five games prior to the victory over the Glasgow Rocks last Friday night.

The Eagles travel to the capital to face the Surrey Scorchers tonight, and that is followed up by a double-header – home and away – against league-leaders Leicester Riders before the final game of the season against Sheffield Sharks.

And while forward Scott Martin admitted it had been a tough period for the side, they were looking forward to more positive times.

“It was a challenge,” he said. “We just continued to work, as did I, and you just put your head down, keep working and keep fighting.

“You can’t quit, we just tried to figure it out, and we have been getting better every day.

“It was a good game for us against a good opponent. We were able to go out and execute the things that we wanted to do and play a style of defence that we wanted to play.

“Offensively, we knocked down some open shots. The game before that when we played London, you have to give them credit, they stifled us to a degree.

“They threw us out of our rhythm, but we missed some open shots and I think on Friday we were able to hit those shots.”

The welcome addition of captain Darius Defoe, who had been out injured for several weeks, has given the team a much-needed lift as they are set to head into the playoffs at the end of the month.

“It’s great to have Darius back,” Martin added. “He is the core of our defence, the foundation of our defence and it helps us a lot on that end of the floor.

“I know exactly where Darius is going to be at all times, he does with me and a lot of the other guys are the same.

The Eagles have always been able to focus on one game at a time, and ahead of tonight’s clash with the Scorchers, Martin insisted that approach will serve them well going into the play-offs.

“It’ll be important for us to play well,” Martin said. “The big thing we are focussed on is improving and getting better every time we step on to the floor.

“That is where our heads are at.”