Drew Sullivan plots Newcastle Eagles' downfall
Nov 23 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
DREW Sullivan has warned his former club Newcastle Eagles that their seven-point lead means “nothing” as he zeroes in on a mid-week Merseyside revenge mission, writes MARK DOUGLAS.
The Eagles go into tomorrow’s BBL Cup semi-final second leg against Sullivan’s Mersey Tigers with that narrow advantage after their superb fourth-quarter fightback at Sport Central on Friday.
But Sullivan, who is predicting another titanic tussle between two of the BBL’s most talented rosters, says the lead is so insignificant that the Tigers aren’t even classing it as a loss.
The GB skipper was superb on Friday, reminding his former employers of his range of ability with a 35-point personal haul that included three superb triples.
Ultimately, though, it wasn’t enough as the resilient Eagles reeled in their 15-point lead but it set the scene for a classic cup encounter at the Echo Arena tomorrow night.
“It’s still totally on a knife-edge – and I’m still really confident about our chances of winning the tie with the second leg being at home,” Sullivan told The Journal.
“We’re a very good team at home. In fact, we’re a very good team period. So I think the Eagles know that the lead doesn’t mean a lot and that they really need to win all over again.
“Seven points doesn’t mean a lot really, and if you look at our home form, this tie is far from over.
“We’ve been playing well and the chance is still there for us to win this tie.
“To be honest you can’t really consider the game on Friday a loss because there is a second leg to come.
“There is a second part to the game and I’m sure Fab knows that we’re confident.”
Sullivan’s bullish words come with a warning to his own team though – namely that the Eagles are back as a force in British basketball.
Or, more accurately, they never went away.
Stung in the early weeks of the campaign by successive away defeats, there were accusations that this year’s crop were a pale imitation of the golden generation that Sullivan belonged to.
Those were charges that gained momentum after the Tigers dished out an 80-58 thrashing to Flournoy’s men back in September.
But those “disrespectful” suggestions never cut much ice with Sullivan.
“The Eagles are a very good team but they always were. I didn’t need Friday to happen to tell me that. They kept the core of last year’s side and added Trey Moore, who is a fantastic player, so they were always going to be tough to beat,” he said.
“I think that, realistically, we’re the biggest threat to Newcastle. But I think when people started talking about us being the best in the country, it was definitely disrespectful to the Eagles and everything that they’ve achieved in the last few years.
“You don’t become a second rate team overnight and you especially don’t do it when you bring back a core of guys that the Eagles brought back.
“The best team in the league, in my opinion, is the Newcastle Eagles.
“I know that we have the ability and talent to challenge them but to be called the best you’ve got to beat the best and we haven’t done that yet because we’ve not won anything yet.”
