Reading Rockets (0-1) will be looking to make amends for their narrow defeat on the first day of the regular season when they make the short journey to Uxbridge on Saturday afternoon to take on Thames Valley Cavaliers (1-0) in their second NBL Division One game.
Rockets lost out to Westminster Warriors in a close, hard fought battle last weekend going down 87-84 whilst this weekend’s opponents secured an 82-78 victory over Bradford Dragons behind 29 points from Martelle McLemore.
Rockets Head Coach Alan Keane was naturally disappointed to see his team defeated in their opening NBL Division One game but feels a lot will be learned by his young squad ahead of this weekend’s trip to Thames Valley Cavaliers.
The Irishman said: “Last weekend’s performance was not the way we wanted to start the season but it has given us a great amount of learning ahead of this weekend’s game at Thames Valley. Westminster showed their experience and competitiveness and with our behaviours not aligned with where we wanted them to be, we unfortunately suffered what some might say as an unexpected defeat.
“We will learn and move on from this and with having a young, enthusiastic group it will be relatively straightforward for us to re-align but we must make sure we do this with energy and discipline to give a true reflection of ourselves.
“We are looking forward to this Saturday’s game against one of the leading teams in the division and it will be a really good test for us after last weekend’s disappointment.”
Rockets go into Saturday’s match-up with no injury concerns but should have David Chive and Sam Grant back in action after both missed out on last weekend’s loss to Westminster Warriors.
New signing AJ Carr is due to meet up with his teammates this week and should be available for Coach Alan Keane this weekend after receiving his visa over the weekend. A big boost for the Berkshire outfit as they look to chalk up their first win of the campaign away to a team they had three successes against last season.
