I HAVE no doubt we will give Newcastle Eagles a run for their money when we renew our rivalry at the University of Worcester on Saturday night.

We have played them twice already this season, losing 81-73 in the British Basketball League in September and 107-85 in the BBL Cup last month.

On each occasion we haven’t been competitive but I am sure we will be this time.

Last season we were tremendously competitive in our three games against the Eagles and two of the matches were decided by shots in the last second.

Newcastle are a very tough side and have already reached next month’s BBL Cup final, but they recognise what we can do.

We always seem to play them away but on Saturday we face them at the University (7pm), where hopefully our supporters will get behind us and be the sixth man.

Although the Eagles have beaten us heavily this season, it is going to be a different story now as we have Sherrad Prezzie-Blue back and new signing Kai Williams.

I am sure Newcastle will have been doing their homework but it will be a good game for Sherrad and Kai to be involved in.

We are looking forward to the challenge to see where we are in the scheme of things. Hopefully it will be the start of things to come for us.

Having Prezzie back in the ranks is a tremendous boost to everyone involved with Worcester — players, supporters and the backroom staff.

We are delighted to have our full complement of players.

Hopefully, the balance of the team is now right and we can really move forward in a positive fashion.

However, there are still areas to work on, such as our fitness levels.

Last Sunday we lost 87-65 at Plymouth Raiders and I was delighted for the first 34 minutes, during which we played some excellent basketball.

Arturas Masiulis scored 18 points and Stan Ocitti chipped in with 16.

But for the last six minutes the same thing came back to haunt us in terms of turning the ball over. We made sloppy mistakes and were not focused.

Although the scoreline looks like a high margin of defeat, it doesn’t really show how the game went.

We have got to look at our fitness levels because we have faded in games more than a couple times now this season.

I can only put that down to not being in the best possible shape that we can be.

With that in mind, I am looking at putting on extra fitness sessions to address that in the coming weeks.