Rob Marsden: Road win is a Giant step forward for Leeds Force

Well that was a mixed weekend wasn't it? A tough night on Friday against the Worcester Wolves where we didn't play at our best followed by a big win against the Manchester Giants on Sunday.
Contribution: Rob Marsden, centre, scored a double double (23 points, 10 rebounds) in Leeds Forces win over Manchester Giants on Sunday, which followed up their frustating loss to the Worcester Wolves two nights earlier.Contribution: Rob Marsden, centre, scored a double double (23 points, 10 rebounds) in Leeds Forces win over Manchester Giants on Sunday, which followed up their frustating loss to the Worcester Wolves two nights earlier.
Contribution: Rob Marsden, centre, scored a double double (23 points, 10 rebounds) in Leeds Forces win over Manchester Giants on Sunday, which followed up their frustating loss to the Worcester Wolves two nights earlier.

Friday was a weird one. Not a lot dropped for us, the ball seemed to be rebounding off the basket rather than dropping in it.

We maybe showed them a bit too much respect early on and they got going and it took us a while to get up to speed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They, like us, weren’t in the best of form so I think we could have come away with the win but, unfortunately, we didn’t.

We got going towards the end and we made it a tight game, but our former player, Marek Klassen, took the game away from us. That’s the type of player he is. We knew that first hand, because he used to do it for us.

We took Newcastle and Glasgow close the weeks before and we should have done the same with Worcester.

It’s good having double-headers though because you can put things right straight away, you don’t have to wait a week. We knew Manchester weren’t going to be easy, they were on a good run and were jumping up the table.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was important to come out of the weekend with a win. It was a good, strong performance from everyone that came on the court.

Everyone knew their jobs and we carried it out mostly to the letter. That showed as we came out on top and earned our first away win of the season.

It was good to reach that milestone as we didn’t want that hanging over us, especially with a tough run of games coming up on the road. We also scored over 100 points in a game for the first time this campaign.

We have felt the pain of having 100 put past us, now we have the joy of hitting three-figures ourselves. I wouldn’t mind some more of that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On a personal note, the stats say I had a pretty good weekend. Scoring over 40 points in the two games combined and a double double against Worcester. A lot of things went right, I felt strong on the floor, made some good plays and I found the basket regularly. So, overall, I am pretty pleased to have contributed to the team. I played the entire game against the Giants, too.

That shows two things to me. One, the coach trusts and values me and my abilities; and, two, my fitness is at a good level.

Interview: Arif Ahmed

Related topics: