Cheshire Phoenix head coach John Coffino says that he and his side can’t wait to get back in front of the Northgate Arena faithful this weekend.

The Nix haven’t had a home game for almost a month but host Durham Wildcats on Sunday (5.30pm) following a three-game spell on the road where they claimed impressive wins at Glasgow Rocks and London Lions before suffering a 100-82 loss at high-flying Leicester Riders on Sunday.

With just three regular season games remaining the Durham game represents the penultimate home game of the BBL Championship campaign for the Nix before they embark on their hunt for silverware in the end-of-season play-offs.

Coffino, who has impressively kept Cheshire in the top four despite wholesale changes to the roster throughout the campaign, says that he and his team are wanting to end the regular season on a high in front of their home fans.

“We’ve been away from home for a while and we’re excited to have home court advantage this weekend,” said Coffino.

“We love playing at home at the Northgate. I’ve said it before but we have the best fans in the league, without question. There is certainly something to be said for that.

“But in the play-offs we are going to have to win on the road and not just our home games.”

Coffino says that the remaining games will provide a chance for the squad to fine tune their preparations for the play-offs, but insists they won’t be taking it lightly.

“We all want to finish on a really high note,” said the affable New Yorker.

“At this time of year at lot of coaches shorten their benches but we are focusing on the guys reinforce their roles and talking to the guys about what they can do for us individually and what we can do collectively.

“I’m okay with who is playing where but we still don’t know who we might be matched up against in the play-offs yet. We just have to take each game as it comes and see where it takes us but we’ll be ready and prepared for whoever we get in the play-offs.”

Coffino is keen to see a positive reaction from his team to their loss at Leicester on Saturday where the hosts pulled away in the final quarter.

“Leicester are a tough team and they showed why they are where they are but that game is gone now,” he added.

“What I am wanting to see is how we react to a loss like that and how we go about trying to bounce back.

“Hopefully we can go out there on Sunday against Durham and put on a good show in front of our fans.”