Bridge Prepares to Face Former Club
 Newcastle
Eagles captain Andrew Bridge is looking forward to facing
his former club, the Sheffield Sharks, when the pair clash
live on Setanta Sports 2 on Wednesday evening (7.30pm).
"I had two really good years there," said the Chesterfield
native, "and Chris [Finch] was an excellent coach for
me at that stage of my career. He kept me on the straight
and narrow, and he almost had a college coach mentality with
me. At the time they had 12 professional players, and I had
to work hard to get any court time. He kept my feet on the
ground, and when it was time to move on everything he had
taught me helped me progress with Newcastle."
Bridge is one of three Newcastle players that has a history
with the Sharks: Coach Fab Flournoy spent one season there
as a player in 2000-01, and Lynard Stewart was MVP of the
Playoff and Cup Final whilst with the Sharks between 2001-04.
Bridge admits that the Eagles are facing the unknown when
the Sharks come to the MetroRadio Arena, as the sides have
not met since October,
"We played them so long ago, and they've made a lot
of changes. Pete's had to bring five or six new guys in, and
what's made it more difficult is having to teach their system
to a new point guard. At Newcastle we have a core of players
that know Fab's system, so he doesn't have to worry about
us, he can concentrate on working one-on-one with any new
player. But Sheffield do seem to have picked up recently,
they're happy with their new guys, so maybe they've turned
the corner."
Eagles bounced back from their BBL Trophy final loss against
the Guildford Heat to remain top of the BBL Championship with
victories against the SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks and Team Birmingham
Panthers last weekend, and the 28-year-old guard was pleased
to get the wins,
"It was important to pull out the two wins, whatever
it took. It was a pretty good game against the Rocks, it wasn't
a classic, but it was exciting and entertaining. We were both
searching for a win any way we could; they made a run late
in the third and early in the fourth, and we made one later.
Fortunately ours was the last run, and it was enough to sneak
the win."
With champions Guildford Heat losing twice over the weekend,
Bridge admits that Eagles have some breathing space now,
"The results went our way, and although the pressure
is still on us because we're top of the table, at the moment
we don't need to win quite so many games as we did a week
ago. It's probably six now, rather than seven or eight. Obviously
it depends on how the other games go."
Eagles will be without top scorer Charles Smith after suffering
a hairline fracture of a kneecap in the BBL Trophy final defeat
against Guildford, and Bridge admits that they miss the influential
forward,
"The most difficult thing is the lack of practice time
to adjust since the final. We needed a break after the trip
home from Plymouth, and with two games over the weekend and
a midweek game this week we haven't had enough time to practice.
We're not moaning, we have to deal with it the best way we
can."
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