Basketball: Eagles suffering growing pains.

Byline: By PAUL NILSEN

NEWCASTLE Eagles skipper Andrew Bridge has spoken of the 'growing pains' that have caused a setback in the defence of their BBL title after two defeats inside a week.

Having shown a lot of character against the Scottish Rocks on Friday to seemingly get their campaign back on track, the Eagles went down 88-85 at Plymouth on Saturday in a real stomach-churner.

While they remain in a lofty position because of games played, they have effectively fallen back into the chasing pack by picking up three losses.

"I know we only lost a handful of games right throughout last season, but I think that everyone knows the league is so much tougher than it was last year and we are a team that has changed during the summer," said Bridge.

"When you are a team that has made changes and is trying to grow and shape itself by bringing in new players, you will get growing pains.

"You have to accept them, and we knew it wouldn't be easy.

"We might have already lost three games, but I don't think we expected to play 10 games and only lose one or two, so we are not too disappointed overall and we definitely have a strong run in us for later in the season.

"We have had experience of winning titles from the front and when it has been more open. I think that whoever wins the league will have around eight or 10 losses this year - maybe even more."

The Eagles started brightly and took control in the opening exchanges, but the Raiders came back into it and by half-time had a seven-point lead.

They then extended their advantage to 70-58 going into the final period before the visitors found some defensive plays to stifle the hosts and, with 90 seconds remaining, they tied the game.

Missed free-throws and a lack of composure in the final moments then cost them dearly, as did 32 points from the sharp- shooting of Kwbana Beckles.

While it might also seem logical that the character of coming back from a 14-point deficit might be more positive than the recent debacle at the Rocks, Bridge disagreed.

"If anything, this is worse than the feeling we had against the Rocks, because we have come away from the Plymouth game thinking that it is a game we could and should have won," he said.

"It is frustrating - they thought they had us at arm's length for long periods, but we came up with some defensive stops to pull level and give us the platform to go on and take the game.

"Just when we thought we might get the job done we come up with a bonehead play and lose our composure.

"With eight seconds left we panicked, didn't run a proper play and failed to execute anything.

That's tough to take after working so hard to get back into the game."

The Eagles have to now pick themselves up for a two-legged BBL Cup semi-final with Everton Tigers.

Newcastle: Moore 20, Smith 16, Defoe 12.

Plymouth: Beckles 32, Moore 15, Martin 14.

CAPTION(S):

WE BLEW IT: Andrew Bridge admits the Eagles slipped up after battling back into game against Plymouth