Cheshire Jets: Skipper O’Reilly says games against Newcastle Eagles and Mersey Tigers will make or break title dream

Mar 17 2011 by Alec Doyle, Chester Chronicle

TWO games – win them and you become title favourites, lose and you are out of the race.

That is the situation facing the Cheshire Jets as they ready themselves for a weekend that will define their season.

They face their two BBL Championship title rivals, Newcastle Eagles and Mersey Tigers, with everything on the line.

The Jets travel to face the Eagles tomorrow before entertaining the Tigers at the Northgate Arena on Sunday (5.30pm) in the biggest derby match in the history of either club.

If the Jets win both, they will have head-to-head advantages over both their main title rivals and be ideally placed to win the BBL Championship.

But lose and they will be out of the running, leaving the Tigers and Eagles to slug it out for the final four weeks of the campaign.

Jets captain Colin O’Reilly is under no illusions as to how important the next two games are.

“These are must win games,” he said. “It’s a play-off situation with these two.

“If we lose them, we’re out but if we win them we’re right where we need to be. We still need them to beat each other as well but basically we have to take care of our own business.”

The Jets are the form team of the three, hitting their stride since the return of Matt Schneck from a ban and watching as the Eagles and Tigers unexpectedly dropped points here and there.

“It’s been swings and roundabouts really this year,” said a pragmatic O’Reilly. “Every team has had their injuries, we had Matt out and everyone’s had their runs when they’ve been on fire at times.

“I just think we happen to be on one at the right time and we have to win this weekend to keep it going. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done so far if we lose this weekend.”

And the fans will play a key role, according to the Jets skipper.

“It’s important the fans are there,” said Irishman O’Reilly. “It gives the players a rush when we come out and hear the crowd roaring and when we get on our runs then it can give us an extra four to six points.”

The fact that Sunday’s match against the Tigers is a derby gives the meeting an extra edge.

O’Reilly said: “Even if you’re bottom of the league they’re still tense, but now it’s a top-of-the-table clash but it’s still about bragging rights. It’s better to be the best team in the North West than the second best.

“It’s up to us now. We have to get over the finishing line.”