Thunder men speak after semi-final triumph

Worthing coach Gary "Chicken" Smith: "It was one noisy dressing room in there tonight. There had been some pretty heated words between us after the game at Capitals. We missed so many chances and it got ugly.

But we all came back to practice this week focused. We all looked at the DVD of that game on Monday. Rob Newson, who played for us last season, is a coach and he analysed it and came to the next practice with some special drills and things. He played a big part and may be helping us more next season.

The guys were rejuvenated and up for it. They came in ready. They all stepped up together, not just one.

We'd relaxed in the first leg and we knew we couldn't this time. We changed it up and gave it a different look with a different starter, with Ryan Marrast replacing Pat Bates.

What do I think about Reading going out to Manchester? It's basketball. No one expected us to get beaten at London Capitals.

James Brame, Thunder captain: "Rob Newsome helped. He's an awesome coach and he analysed their plays and got us doing drills to box out, hold the defence and get open on the wings. It lifted us. I had to do the defensive job on Marlo Saunders. I realised if I let him face up to the basket I'd be in trouble so I always got in close on him.

Marlo Saunders, captain of Capitals (kept to just 12 points by James Brame and others): "Thunder suffocated me tonight. I knew they'd come out for the game strong. Hats off to them. In the third quarter we started to play like we did in the first leg but they kept the pressure on us.

Capitals coach Peter Deppisch: "We were the aggressors last week and we won by nine points. But we came out for the second leg stale tonight. I think we could have done better. We didn't play well defensively. We were horrendous. We didn't do the little things.

Janis Ivanovskis: " It was a slip-up at London, it wasn't a pretty game and up there it came down to the fourth quarter. We just came back strong this time. We were focused. We knew what we had to do. We'd had two good practices this week and we ran through their set plays and looked at all the things on the film. Out on the floor, we wanted it more. It came down to the hustle plays and every play mattered.

Team manager Daniel Jenner: "In the eight years I've been involved with the team, and that's since the beginning, that was the best performance by a Thunder outfit.

Marcus Avant: "I felt we had to get more aggressive and keep them off the boards. We were working a lot on boxing out in practice.

This time against Manchester (he fouled out on two technicals in the league match at home, which Thunder won] I'm going to be on court all 40 minutes. We need to win this championship and we want to win it for the fans because they've supported us all year.

For comments by Reading and Manchester coaches Dave Titmuss and Jeff Jones, after their encounter, click here.

Thunder Supporters Club are holding an end-of-season buffet party in time before most of the players depart. It is on May 6 at the Leisure Centre's Shaftesbury Room (7-10pm). Tickets are 3 members, 5 non-menbers.