Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Yesterday the York Men’s Basketball team has their cup play off to try and reach the last eight. Unfortunately with Northumbria playing a strong organised game, the team after losing the initial lead, never quite managed to gain the points that would ensure victory. But York came away having gained valuable experience, and currently lying second in their league York still has everything to play for in next week's game.
The first quarter started with both teams evenly balanced, the first basket was scored after only 2 minutes, and York remained within a couple of points. However, a change of tactic half way through the quarter by Northumbria caused serious problems for York. Northumbria began running a full court press, making life difficult for York as they tried to move the ball past halfway, and the intense defence soon began to open up cracks in the offence. Passes began to go astray and York lost possession twice due to back court violations. Northumbria capitalised on their chances with Marcus Johansson’s opposite number scoring 12 points and the quarter finished with Northumbria in the lead 21 – 10.
Captain Dane Vishnubala’s solution to York’s problems on offence was to bring on a couple of strong post players including Aaron Lake. Lake, making his home debut for the first team, made an immediate impact with his patented spin move at the low post, sinking an easy two points. Although taking a while to adjust to the speed of first team basketball, Lake finished the quarter with six points and four rebounds, including two offensive boards. Aside from this, the second quarter followed the same pattern as the first, with York unable to close down the gap. Johansson scored another four points, bringing his total up to eight, and Samuel Bentley scored a three, his only points in a surprisingly quiet game from number twenty-three. The quarter finished with Northumbria leading 40 – 27.
The start of the second half brought an offensive explosion from York nobody was expecting - it certainly caught Northumbria by surprise. York opened up with an unanswered nine point run, closing the gap to a mere four points, before Johansson’s opposite number sank a two from the baseline. Up until this point Northumbria’s number 9 had been the most consistent scorer out of both teams, causing a headache for York’s defence, but he was completely eclipsed by Johansson. Having already scored 7 of York’s 9 points, Johansson’s speed and strength driving to the basket propelled him on to a total of 13 points in the quarter. At times driving from his own half, Johansson sped past his marker and regularly broke the double and triple teams he was facing. His almost single-handed effort brought York back 44 – 48 halfway through the quarter.
However, his substitution heralded the end of the York’s dominance of the quarter. York failed to capitalise on the opportunity and did not manage to close the gap by the remaining four points. Northumbria, having reorganised themselves, came out strong and shut out York for the remainder of the quarter, which finished Northumbria 67 – York 44.
The final quarter continued in similar fashion to the first half. Johansson scored another six points but aside from that there wasn’t much of a consistent offensive threat from York. The game finished a disappointing 55 – 80 in Northumbria’s favour. Aside from Lake and Johansson there were no other standout offensive performances from York, but defensively Brendan Moran took three blocks and three boards. David Nalton, characteristically a defensive player, also blocked another two attempts and hauled in an impressive seven rebounds throughout the course of the game. All four of these players were subsequently praised by their Captain for their performances during the game; along with general praise from the team for Kunle Acraman's and Sarah Pycroft's officiating skills, both filling a vital vacancy in the team for managing the table.
Retrospectively, Vishnubala also added: "it's always disappointing to lose a cup game but there were some good things to take away [from it]". In a game against a strong rival York didn’t do badly, with several players showing their true potential, but as a whole there is still some work to be done if they’re to be ready for promotion at the end of the season.
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