Fab warns of Sharks danger

Mar 11 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

FABULOUS Flournoy has warned his Newcastle Eagles players not to become distracted at Sheffield Sharks tonight by their appearance in the BBL Trophy Final at the weekend.

The Eagles lead the BBL table by four points and play Guildford Heat on Sunday as they look to win their first final since their play-off success in 2007.

As ever, though, Flournoy – who was named Newcastle Sports Personality of the Year earlier this week – is watching for any sign of complacency, particularly after the team’s dreadful performances in the finals of the Cup and Trophy last year.

He said: “We were the favourites against Milton Keynes last year and we lost in the final of the Cup, we were favourites against Guildford in the Trophy and we lost in the final, that is a lesson for us all.

“I don’t care if we are the favourites, anything can happen in a one-off game of basketball and we always know opposition teams are going to raise their game against us.

“I don’t pay any attention to what people expect us to do, it’s about what we do in the game that matters, we hopefully learnt from our mistakes last season.

“Trying to win things as a Newcastle player is non-stop, as soon as you win one thing, you are expected to win the next one as well.

“It’s the same in the league, we are out in front as we prepare to go down to Sheffield, but they will want to clip our wings. We can’t afford any slip-ups. I know it is a cliche everyone is sick of hearing me say, but I will always take each basketball game as it comes and the only game we should be thinking about at the moment is the one against Sheffield Sharks.”