A depleted Raptors third team entertained Tameside Timberwolves, last Thursday knowing that their opponents had scored well in excess of 100 pts in their previous three games! Timberwolves are a reformed team from one that last appeared in the Manchester Premier Division and they would give Raptors National League side a good game.

Tameside started with a full court press and Raptors struggled initially to deal with the pressure and were 10 pts down in the first ten minutes. A Time-out helped to calm the panic and Raptors started to deal with the pressure and also score thanks to Jones and Turner, but Tameside were unforgiving and the pressure continued throughout the second quarter to lead 54 – 15 at the half.

Raptors started the third quarter better than their opponents and after five minutes had outscored them by 10pts to 5pts. Sadly Raptors failed to maintain their purple patch and, missing easy baskets and 7 free throws, let the opposition back in to lose the quarter 21 -10.

The final quarter saw a very tired Raptors team, struggle to stay with their opponents on a fitness level and sadly allowed them to break the 100 mark.  Sam Chicken showed some excellent “get-back” defence with several steals and Captain Watts put in a fine defensive rebounding performance. Alex Jones helped the team by individually breaking the press on many occasions and Turner top scored with 11pts. All of the team contributed in what was a steep learning curve and valuable experience was gained by all.  Far from being discouraged there was a real demand from the team to learn from this experience. Coach Worsley was pleased with the response from all the players and looks forward to next week’s match.