Fab proud of Eagles’ revival, but still room to improve
WHEN Newcastle Eagles lost 79-77 at home to Leicester Riders before Christmas, many were writing off Fab Flournoy’s talented but inconsistent side.
Yet when the going gets tough, Flournoy gets going.
The player-coach delivered a blistering assessment of his charges following that defeat, sending them away to think about things during the festive break.
Since their return there have been signs of the group coming together and it appears the players have responded to Flournoy’s rallying call.
Three straight wins, including a victory over Leicester in the rematch last Friday, means Newcastle are heading into tonight’s BBL Trophy quarter-final against Sheffield Sharks in good heart.
If the Eagles are successful by securing victory against a tough Sheffield side, then a two-legged semi-final against Worcester Wolves would be standing between them and another Trophy final.
Flournoy is still setting his players a high mark to hit and wants to see them continue to progress.
He said: “I am the coach, I always want more but at this point we are where we are supposed to be.
“We still have work ahead of us to do but at the same time we are in a good position.
“Last week was a must-win game for the league situation, it was as simple as that.
“If we had lost it would not have meant mathematically we were out of it but if we had lost again to Leicester it would have meant our destiny was in someone else’s hands. Right now, we control our own destiny and that is where we want to be.
“The game we played Leicester prior to last weekend you could say we lost the game in the dying seconds or you could say they won it in the dying seconds - depending on which side you want to look at it.
“There was no doubt in my mind we would be able to beat them and I am pretty sure there was no doubt they would be able to beat us.
“I don’t think it was necessarily a question in either team’s mind and certainly not ours that we could beat them.
“In this league you are capable of beating anyone – and losing to anyone.” Looking ahead to tonight’s game, Flournoy is keen to ensure his side puts in a good performance to progress to the semi-finals after crashing out of the BBL Cup against Cheshire Phoenix. He added: “Right out of the league and right into the Trophy competition. “With missing out in the cup competition we want to make sure we don’t miss out in this competition. “It is going to be a tough task for us playing against the Sharks. “We cannot become complacent and think because we have beaten them twice already in the league we can take anything from that.
“This is a one-off cup game and everyone starts at zero-zero and we have to be ready for a hard game as they will be ready for the same.
“You can turn around and say we have beaten them twice, but the same thing happened with Cheshire. We had beaten them in the league but they came to Newcastle and beat us in the Cup. We have not forgotten that.
“Anyone is capable of beating anyone on any given night.
“What we have done in the past and in particular with past games has no bearing and no meaning on tonight’s game.”
In this league you are capable of beating anyone – and losing to anyone Fab Flournoy