Home play-off tie is in Thunder’s hands

Thunder needed double over-time to win a hard-fought encounter 116-113 at Brixton Topcats on Sunday, after they defeated Leeds Carnegie 100-89 at Worthing Leisure Centre on Saturday.

The wins took Thunder up to third in the table and victory at home to fifth-placed Leicester Warriors on Saturday and at leaders London Leopards on April 8 will seal the home play-off tie. However, victory at home to Warriors would mean Reading would need to win their remaining three games – against Leopards, Bradford and Leeds – to have any chance of pipping Thunder to a home play-off.

Thunder captain James Brame was delighted with how the weekend went and said: “They were two great wins and it was just what we needed.

“The wins have given everyone a lot of confidence and now we need to make sure we get home advantage in the play-offs.

“It was like a war at Brixton and it was a very tense atmosphere. They’d already beaten us twice at our place, so it was great to go there and win.

“Leicester on Saturday is a massive game, now. They’re a good team, so it’s not going to be easy but it’s must-win for us, especially playing at home.

“We could come up against them in the play-offs as well but we’ve just got to keep winning and then you never know what could happen, there’s still a slim chance of finishing in the top two.

“As long as we are at home in the play-offs, we don’t mind who we play. We can beat anyone on our day and then it would be up to the final four weekend in Manchester.

“We’ve had a few ups and downs this season but the goal is to get to the final four and then anything can happen.”

Full match report and pictures in this week’s papers, out today (Thursday).