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Andre Alleyne faces his old side Milton Keynes in a crunch uni-ball trophy tie and he knows that only one outcome will do on Boxing Day at MEN Arena.
“The pressure is obviously on us if we want to advance in the competition,” he said. “If we want to sneak in through the back door, then we have got to get it done and there is no better place to get it done than on our home floor against my old team.
“However, Milton Keynes are another team that are playing extremely well right now – Nigel [Lloyd] has got them playing well together – they are full of confidence and they just keep winning big and moving on. For them to have got through our group with only one loss is a really major achievement for Milton Keynes.”
The Lions are already through to the next phase of the competition, but that doesn’t mean that the Lions don’t want the win.
“It wouldn’t be fair to other teams if we didn’t go out and play our hardest, because that game – win or lose – might not affect us, but it will effect other teams, who are trying to get to the next round of the trophy. So, we are going to come out and play our best basketball.”
Just as the Lions did the last time they were at the MEN arena, when they also defeated the Giants, which ended a 28-game losing streak against the franchise.
It is statistics like that which worry Coach Alleyne. “We are the reigning champions and everybody wants to beat us every night and that’s what our guys have got to understand. Most of the teams who have been beating us recently haven’t done so in a while. I look at this preview and I feel pretty down when I read about how teams haven’t won here since the early 90’s. It’s obviously a big deal for them to get the monkey off their backs by coming into our building and winning.
“We have got to try to keep our record alive and every night that we play it’s a pressure situation. We have got to be able to play under pressure situations and right now we have not done a very good job of playing at home, but sooner or later it’s going to kick in and we have got to start some kind of home run of wins.”
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