Cheshire Phoenix will be underdogs for tonight’s clash at Leicester Riders (7.45pm tip-off).

But new head coach Robbie Peers insists a trip to the defending BBL Championship regular season champions offers a ‘great opportunity’ for his side.

The Riders are flying high in second and 20 points above the 10th-placed Nix.

But Peers said: “It’s a great opportunity on Saturday because we’re playing one of the elite teams in the league and that will show us where we’re at. We’re going to prepare for them and we’re going to do the best we can and see where we’re at.”

Peers will have had around a week to prepare for the Leicester Arena showdown after returning to take charge of the Chester and Ellesmere Port club.

And he said: “I’m been very, very impressed with the players,

“They want to be on the practice floor, they want to work hard, and they’re very, very receptive.

“It’s a very young team but we’re going to grow together. I feel as if they are good people. They want to listen, they want to improve, so that gives us a great foundation.

“We’ve just got to put some hard work in now, come together as a team, complement each other, be good team-mates, and who knows where we can take this? But I feel we can really be competitive.”

It will be Peers’s first game in charge of the Nix since leaving the club, when it was known as Chester Jets, in 2003 for London Towers.

And he said: “It’s been a long, long time but as the sessions go on I’m feeling more and more comfortable.

“I’m feeling competitive and I feel as I want to make a difference. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Nix will go into the game on the back of a 82-68 BBL Trophy win at Leeds Force.

Their reward is a quarter-final tie at home to Bristol Flyers on Sunday week (5.30pm), which will be Peers’ first match at the Cheshire Oaks Arena.