Hildreth so thankful for fans’ support

They were out in force on both days as Thunder beat Team Northumbria in the semi-finals on Saturday, before losing to Reading Rockets in the final on Sunday.

Hildreth said: “The fans are phenomenal. The fact they were cheering with 10 seconds to go in a blow-out game against Reading is just a credit to them.

“Bud Johnston turned around and said ‘Danny we need to stand up and applaud the crowd’, which is what we did for the final few seconds of the game.

“They’ve been fantastic all year. When we were losing at the start of the season, they were still supporting us because they believed that what we were doing was right, all the way up to today.

“After the game, everyone’s been coming up and they haven’t been saying ‘unlucky’ but ‘we’re so proud, you’ve done so well’ and that’s so nice to take forward into next year, and for these players to have that support behind them.”

Full reaction from Hildreth from the Final Fours weekend in the May 2 edition of the Worthing Herald.