Rob Marsden: Bad habits kick-in as Leeds Force are caught cold

We have been guilty of slow starts for most of the season but recently it seemed like we had turned that corner.

But obviously not; we seemed to go back to our old ways. You can’t put up seven points and expect to win any game against any team in this league.

I can’t even say what the reason was. We were focused on the way up and in the warm-up. And, as I said in the week, we have had close games with them in the past.

When you only get going in the second quarter and they are firing all over the court, then you know it’s so hard to turn things around.

It was only 12 points but the fact was they had been hot longer than we had.

That said, we did get back to something like ourselves after the first period.

Although we got points on the board before half-time, defensively we couldn’t stop them; they were playing aggressive basketball, and we gave them that licence.

I do wonder if we had started strongly in the first what kind of game it could have been because we did well offensively.

We did also miss Jack Isenbarger and Rob Sandoval. They are big players for us. They have that creative spark which we missed.

That was evident for me. Jermaine Sanders and I put up 20 points each and normally Isenbarger can do the same. Sandoval can do similar, so it makes a huge difference not having them on the court.

Four of their players put up double-digit points and only two of us did that. That aggression was the difference at the end.

I don’t entertain the thought that we think the season is over. No way!

We are professionals, we love basketball and want to win every single game we play.

It has been a tough season for us.

I think we have a lot of potential in this team. It’s a young roster and we have had some big scalps this year.

We wanted the play-offs and now we can’t get there but we don’t want to finish on a low.

The good thing is we have the Rocks again tomorrow which means we can put things right – and we have to.

It is the final home game of the season and the fans have been brilliant. They have been with us in the good and hard times.

They have travelled the length and breadth of the country with us, so these two games left in the season are for them. We have a responsibility on the court as Leeds Force players to the fans, owners, coach Newby and each other.

So we have that in the front of our minds and we will welcome the Rocks on Friday and look to get the win. Then we will go to Cheshire on Sunday in our final game of the season and end on a high so we can go into next season and start on a high.

I ask you all to back us in these last two games and we will show how good we are. Especially against Glasgow. Let’s make it a tough place for them to come. If you can raise the roof like I know you can and have, it will give us the extra boost that we need.

I look forward to seeing you all for our last home game of the season. We Are Force!