Top Stories  RSS feed | About

EDITOR'S CHOICE NEWS 'I've been kicked in the teeth by Labour' Shoaib joins cricketing legends with six sixes Region’s latest work of art will honour the ‘often undervalued’ £300m film studio gets backing from authority NEWS IN VIDEO Undercover van to help catch benefit fraudsters Dogs do their bit for charity One man band School garden opens 'Great Escape' veteran visits region RACING PODCAST Racing tips and reports with Graham Orange of Go Racing FORMULA 1 News and Race Reports F1 Blog Circuit Guide Predictions THE HEADLINE GAME * Pit your wits against The Northern Echo and TFM in The Headline Game GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 Middlesbrough stun hapless City in 'nothing' game 2 Moyes blueprint could be the way ahead for Keegan 3 Mixed reaction to face of North 4 It's advantage Quakers, thanks to Miller 5 Academic warns of flooding not seen in living memory 6 Boro end their season in style - but it's a humbling for Sven 7 Celebrations as Laura wins Miss Durham competition 8 Man dies after road accident 9 Police called as fight breaks out in car park 10 Concern over football match tickets Today | 7 Days 1 Election aftermath 2 Miss Durham - The Finalists 3 Wigan keen on Cattermole 4 Gordon Brown 5 Councillors line up for leadership challenge 6 'I've been kicked in the teeth by Labour' 7 Long lay-off for Viduka 8 Anger after women locked in car park 9 Keegan happy to talk 10 Henig elected to leadership role

Comment

NEWCASTLE Eagles are on course to wrap up the British League Championship with a month to spare as Fabulous Flournoy's title favourites face three defining fixtures in the space of eight days.

The beaten Cup and Trophy finalists tackle their two closest rivals this weekend and victories against Plymouth Raiders tonight and Guildford Heat on Sunday will all but seal the regular season crown.

A further victory against early pace-setters Milton Keynes next Friday would confirm a second Championship in three years and an eighth trophy in four seasons.

The Eagles head into the first of this weekend's pivotal clashes on the back of 11 successive league wins after transforming this season's title battle into a one-horse race.

However, Flournoy refuses to take his team's fine form for granted and insists: "There's been a lot of talk about ourselves, Guildford and Milton Keynes and I think that a lot of people have probably forgotten Raiders.

"They have consistently been up there all season but because they didn't do anything in the Cup or Trophy they've been overlooked.

"They can beat anyone on their day and their coach, Gary Stronach, has done a fantastic job with them since they joined the BBL."

Guildford kept themselves in the title frame with a fine victory against a fading Sheffield Sharks side on Wednesday, piling further pressure on the South Yorkshire franchise's under-fire play-caller Pete Scantlebury.

The former Sunderland and Newcastle favourite is no nearer to ending a four-year trophy drought for the former BBL powerhouse but he said: "I will not walk away from this job.

"We always knew this would be a transitional season and we're already building for next season now."

9:08am Friday 21st March 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login