HEAD coach Paul James says victory over London Lions at the Copper Box tomorrow night (7.30pm) will go a long way to healing the wounds of Worcester Wolves’ semi-final exit in the BBL Trophy.

Wolves’ hopes of securing a place in the final at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow were ended by Newcastle Eagles, who clinched a dominant 94-88 win at the University of Worcester Arena on Sunday.

But James said his players have had little time to dwell on their cup disappointment as they prepare to get their British Basketball League campaign back on track with a trip to the capital to face Lions.

“The players will be feeling down but sometimes it is good to have a game coming up so quickly,” said James, whose side also lost 80-69 to Sheffield Sharks in the league last Friday.

“If we can go to London and get a win there, then I am sure that will ease the pain.

“The Copper Box is a fantastic venue and London do very well at home.

“They also have players we know of, like Alex Owumi and the Williams brothers (Kai and Jamal), so we know them very well and how they play.

“On their day, London can beat anybody but they can also have those days where they don’t perform, so they have been a little bit of an up-and-down side like ourselves.

“We just need to keep their key players quiet and if we can focus for the full 40 minutes we will give ourselves a great chance of winning the game,”

London beat Worcester 77-70 in November before James’ men got their revenge with a 79-75 victory at the arena, and the Wolves boss is predicting another close contest.

Pavol Losonsky is the latest Wolves player to be struck down with a sickness bug but James is confident his side will all be fit and “firing on all cylinders” again when they take on Lions.

“We have had a cold doing the rounds in the team but we just have to deal with it and give our best and hope that is good enough to win these games coming up,” he said.

“It has been a really demanding schedule. There is no let-up yet as we will go from playing London to then having another game (at home to Manchester Giants) on Friday.

“We don’t have time to think about the soreness or knocks as we have got to move forward to the next game and try to get through it as best we can.

“We have lost our way a little bit but we are still a good team and will be firing on all cylinders again.”