Thunder digesting shock defeat

Thunder

Captain James Brame: "We hadn't pepared for anything. It feels like we've been off for two weeks. Practice has not been very good.

"We got bullied They got away with a lot of fouls, they were trying to speed us up and did exactly that. We couldn't get open on the wings, we rushed it, we took some bad shots, we made turnovers and we didn't box out. Everybody's gutted but that's the feeling we needed. We weren't on the same page and it's about the little things that we didn't do.

"I had a horrible game but I must have played only about 11 minutes. That's the least I've played for a lot of games.

"We're not used to losing but we got beaten in every aspect of the game. This could be the slap in the face that we need. We've been cruising and losing our intensity. If we're not ready to fight and bully then we're going to lose this series.

"We're a team that's under-achieving. We're lost a couple of finals. Now we've been hustled and beaten by a better team that was ready for us.

"But I'm totally confident we'll come back and win by more than nine points."

Dan Shotton: "It's a different game they play up in London. They had their fans behind them and they came to hustle and chase every ball. You have to keep your heads clear and be ready.

"But now they've got to come to our place. We haven't lost there for a year and we're going to get them on Saturday."

Dan Midgley: "We're pretty confident."

Assistant coach Chris Mayes: "We were in disarray, there was panic and we lost our discipline in the last five minutes. It wasn't about defence today. It was about outwitting them on their own floor and frustrating them, not about coming here for a 25-point win.

"I'd like to thank everyone who sent their love when I was in hopsital last week (he had brain surgery to remove a benign tumour from on his pituitary gland]."

Capitals

Coach Peter Deppisch: "Yes, that was our best performance of the season. We knew if we were to have a chance we had to be the aggressors.

"We've played them four times already so we know about them. We knew we had to keep in front of them and stop their fast break getting going.

"Yes, we expect Ibrahim Gariba to be back next week after his knee injury.

Captain Marlo Saunders: "We'll had that extra bit of aggression today. The second leg's going to be a big one."

Ex-Thunder forward Damian Harris, who started: "I've never been on a team that's beaten Worthing since I left them. I saw the Thunder players afterwards. We had a joke and a giggle.

"Hopefully we can finish it next Saturday. We're going to do the same thing."

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