The contest went down to the wire as UEL’s star player, Brandon Peel, stepped up his game and equalised the score with just 32 seconds to go in the final quarter.
With the team running on adrenaline, UEL looked like they would go on and find the win after a great comeback.
Heartbreak At The Death
It wasn’t until Essex main man, Sam Newman, ended UEL’s dreams by scoring three points with 26 seconds left and finished the game off with a dunk to end the score at 93-101 to the visitors.
UEL came into the game having won all of the previous three matches. Captain, Tyler Johnson, spoke after the game and mentioned how the team went into the tie feeling overly confident.
“We came into the game too relaxed and underestimated our opponents and they made us pay for that.
“In the changing room before the game, we were all relaxed, because we were 3-0 going into this game.
“We made adjustments in the second half and we came back, but it was unfortunate that it ended like that. It was bittersweet, but we’ll have to play them again away”, he said.
In his second year in charge as head coach, Dave Greenway, has recruited new players into the squad and knows it will take time for them to gel together.
Positives Despite Defeat
Greenway was not impressed with the overall performance as he feels that the team need to be more consistent.
“I think our performance was a bit up and down. I think I’m being nice because our performance in the 1st half was horrendous.
“All the preparation that put into it during the week, we didn’t have our mindset today which is something that we talked about in the dressing room.
“Even though we didn’t play well, the players showed some great character and that’s probably the only positive I can take away from this game.
“We have a team that I’ve brought in, so I can now define a style that I like to play. I know that we have players that can actually optimise their talent and their ability within that style of play for us to be successful”, said Greenway.
UEL will be looking to bounce back and take the positives out of this game ahead of their next fixture away to Bournemouth University.
