Rob Marsden: Intensity is increased in bid to end barren run

Fans watch the BBL Cup final as Newcastle Eagles won the seasons first silverware on Sunday when they defeated the Glasgow Rocks, 91-83, at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham. (Picture: Ville Vuorinen)

It has been a tough few weeks for us, wins have been hard to come by but this week off has benefited us massively.

Training has been intense. Coach Matt Newby had us in everyday last week.

He turned the intensity up a notch or two.

We have been working on the attacking side of our game, coming up with some new ideas. Defensively we feel more solid and we have been doing a lot of fitness work so for me, especially, I feel a lot sharper than in previous weeks.

It’s easy to think as a player that because there isn’t a game at the end of the week you can take your foot of the pedal a bit, but it’s been the opposite.

We have been playing a lot with the ball, creating live scenarios which has gotten the confidence up. A few of the heads had dropped due to the results, which I understand, but now we are ready for the trip to Surrey Scorchers on Saturday afternoon.

They are one of the teams we have beaten this season and it’s very, very important to go down there and pick up another win.

If we can do that we secure the head-to-head record over them which could be massive come end of the season. That could be the difference between us making the play-offs and missing out.

As always it’s going to be difficult. Our form on the road hasn’t been the best and Surrey have been on a good run recently. They have been beating teams around them which you have to do and they have a real shot of making the top eight.

Surrey can start strong and they ca finish strongly so we need to be at it for the full 40 minutes if we are to get the much-needed win.

This is why we have been working at high intensity in training so we are prepared for what they throw at us.

With no game last week it’s given the roster some much needed time to get to know each other’s game, how they like to play, and the moves they make. That can only help us get better and now everyone is playing together we can really push on and get up the table.

On a personal note it was good to have the weekend off. It was my auntie’s birthday so we all got together and went out for a nice meal.

It was good to have all the family around the table and having a laugh and enjoying ourselves.

It doesn’t happen very often so it was nice to have us all together.

It’s back to business at the weekend and let’s get that win.

Interview: Arif Ahmed