Sheffield Sharks hope to do 'Sheffield proud' with Sky Sports date at Ponds Forge

You might think you’re seeing double if you tune into Sky Sports this Friday evening but we can assure you – you’re not!
By Dave Bell
Published 17th Jan 2022, 11:22 BST
Updated 17th Jan 2022, 16:54 BST
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The B. Braun Sheffield Sharks welcome Bristol Flyers to Ponds Forge for a televised fixture, unique for the fact that twins Marcus Delpeche of the Sharks and Malcolm Delpeche of the Flyers will be in opposition. An important weekend of BBL Championship action for the Sharks also sees a Sunday afternoon trip down to Guildford where Surrey Scorchers will be our second opponents.

Our game last Friday at home to Cheshire didn’t exactly go to plan. It was a defensive encounter against a side that we haven’t matched up against well in recent games. The game was reasonably tight but a 2-16 run across the third and fourth quarters saw the Phoenix take the win by 56-77. Rodney Glasgow Jr led our scoring with 17 points and there was a 12 point 12 rebound double-double for Jordan Ratinho but without the services of the injured Bennett Koch and Oscar Baldwin, we struggled to match up against Cheshire physically.

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Our thoughts and endeavours now turn to a big double-header weekend that sees Bristol Flyers come to Ponds Forge on Friday evening in front of the Sky Sports cameras with a road trip to Surrey Scorchers on Sunday afternoon. Our forward Marcus Delpeche gave his thoughts on matching up against his twin brother as we look to get back to winning ways.

Sheffield Sharks in action by Adam BatesSheffield Sharks in action by Adam Bates
Sheffield Sharks in action by Adam Bates

‘It will be weird but I’ll be looking forward to it. Up until this point we’ve either been in different countries or we’ve always been on the same court together so seeing him like this will be something I’m definitely looking forward to and I’m definitely looking forward to beating him!’

More important to us is improving on our recent displays. We suffered with Covid postponements, personnel isolating, the challenge of integrating a new player on to the roster and it feels like we have lost a bit of momentum. The national TV stage would be a great place to stage a recovery although we know that Bristol are a useful team – currently fourth in the BBL Championship. Surrey are ninth and although it is a road game, we’d hope that we have two wins by Sunday.

If you can’t get down to Ponds Forge, don’t forget to tune into Sky Sports at 7pm with the game tipping off at 7.30pm – we hope to do Sheffield proud!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Related topics:SheffieldSheffield SharksSky SportsSurrey