After the disappointment of a 4-point loss to Preston 2, the team followed up with two commanding victories to take them to the top of the Championship table with the aim to stay there for the long term.

Last Thursday saw us pay a visit to the largely unknown quantity of the promoted Salford side. The team were positive throughout and ensured the last result was washed away as quickly as possible. The whole squad put in strong performances but the exceptional offensive display by Zak merits a mention as he was largely unplayable whilst racking up 27 points. The bigs collectively put in a great effort to stop their centre, and main threat, but Craig Inness was the pick of them hauling in 16 boards and contributing an efficient 12 points. A very promising team performance, shown to be very valuable after the 2nd's unlucky loss (against the same opposition) to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer the following week.

Onto the Stockport game just five days later and they were a more known unit full of wily old veterans and some pure shooters. We knew how to beat them but doing it is sometimes another matter as last year's 2nds found out, losing a tight battle pre-Christmas with an under-manned squad and after overtime later in the season which ultimately cost them a shot at playoffs. I was someone in particular who took special satisfaction in putting them away by over 40 points this time!

It was a real team performance with contributions right across the squad with six players scoring 9 points or more. We had serious joy at the end of the third and fourth quarter putting a fatigued team to the sword; a reward for our relentlessness and persistence. It took some serious grind to get to that point however as we were struggling to pull away for a large period of the game, largely due to their tricky-to-stop sharp shooters. Danny in particular kept plugging away, top scoring with 19 points and the team tonight was largely led by Craig Wright who made the most of his 30 minutes to head close to a triple-double and control the game for large periods. Early in the 3rd Stockport actually pulled the game to within 7, but from that point we began to assert our dominance and find a way to control their scorers with some 1-1 defensive assignments, forcing their key players to work very hard for their shots. The lead began to open up and the youth movement was put in motion with Diddy pulling the strings to the end with 10 assists. Sam Lord in particular showed huge glimpses of his massive upside with 14 points in as many minutes, as well as Aleks pouring in 12 points off only six shots, including the layup which got us to surpass the 100 mark. A satisfying and rare occurrence and overall a victory to be celebrated.

By Ewan Maynard

Points: Danny 19, Sam 14, Craig Inness 12, Aleks 12, Zak 9, Diddy 9, Craig W 7, Nathaniel 7, Lincoln 6, Ewan 4, Shaun 0
Rebounds: Craig Wright 9, Nathaniel 8, Craig Inness 7, Ewan, Sam and Danny 6
Assists: Craig Wright 11, Diddy 10, Zak 7, Ewan 6
Steals: Diddy and Danny 3