Eagles aim to avoid second defeat in row

AFTER a long tough road trip last weekend, Newcastle Eagles find themselves back on the road today, writes JEFF KING.

This time Fab Flournoy and Co will be heading north to Glasgow and the renewing of a rivalry which the Eagles have dominated of late.

It was back on April Fools’ Day 2012 when Newcastle last lost to Glasgow at Kelvin Hall, 21 games across all competitions, and it will be disappointing for Flournoy and his players if that occurs tonight.

Especially as the back end of the long weekend at Bristol and Plymouth saw the Eagles’ 100% record go to a fired-up Raiders.

Newcastle are desperate not to lose two on the bounce and will want to win to maintain their position at the top of the BBL.

Both Zarko Jukic, back from international duty with Denmark, and Kai Williams, who missed the Plymouth game through injury, should return to Newcastle’s starting line-up in Glasgow.

That will mean Croatian forward Jure Gunjina, who had started both games last weekend in Jukic’s place, will be back on the bench

Gunjina said: “It was a tough weekend, especially at Plymouth where we missed our two regular starters Zarko and Kai.

“Plymouth played really good and responded very well to our plays and kind of took the best out of us and deserved their win.

“It was good for me to start two games, but I always think I could have done better no matter what I do. I just try to do the best I can in whatever position the coach puts me in whether that’s starting or from the bench. I could have responded way better in the second game when it was needed.

“In the first game it didn’t matter so much, we were up nearly 30 points, but in that second game we as a team didn’t play well either, so I guess that comes from the start.

“I was disappointed about the way that one went and hopefully that will change tonight.”

He added: “I’ll probably be back on the bench but that doesn’t influence my mentality. I’ll be ready to do whatever I can and give 100% to help the time when I’m called upon.

“It’s a big game and obviously there’s a big rivalry between these two sides. We’ve already beaten them at home, so they’ll be ready for us. We must make sure we’re ready to match them. Hopefully we can bounce back and get the win.

“We need to start another run to get us ready for that game as well and that has to start tonight.”