LITHUANIAN power forward Paulius Augulis has been axed by Worcester Wolves after little more than six weeks with the club.

Augulis joined Wolves at the end of August along with fellow countryman Valdas Urbonavicius, but has failed to make an impact with the club.

Director of basketball Mick Donovan said the original agreement was to assess the six-foot-six player's progress, but they had decided to let him go.

He added: "The type of player he was, we were struggling to accommodate him for minutes on the court. If you have got an overseas player you want them to be more of an impact player.

"While we recognise he had qualities, he probably didn't fit into our tempo."

Wolves are likely to head back to Lithuania or Poland in search of Augulis' replacement, but their immediate priority is a trip to Coventry Crusaders in the National Trophy tonight (7.30pm).

Victory would guarantee them a place in the semi-finals of the competition, open only to teams from England Basketball Lea-gue Division One. Wolves defeated Crusaders 94-77 two weeks ago when Andrew Harper top-scored and know success would give them their 13th straight triumph against their rivals, beaten 116-103 by Sheffield Arrows in the National Cup last week.

Donovan said: "Coventry are desperate to beat us, it would make their season to turn us over, but we want to keep them in their place as local rivals.

"It's the first major tournament this year and it would be nice to achieve our first goal."

Head coach Josh Coop-rider will not be courtside for the match as he has jetted back to the United States for personal reasons. In his absence, Ty Shaw and Matt Collins have been coaching the side, while second team coach Cecil Gordon is expected to be at Coventry as a stand-in.

Tonight's match is also Wolves' last game before the Division One season begins in earnest at Nottingham Knights next Saturday and Manchester Magic at home 24 hours later.

Donovan believes Wol-ves have made good progress during their recent cup campaigns.

He said: "We started quite slowly at the beginning of the season but we have been improving with the new players.

"In both games last week we came out flying and defended very well. A big focus for us is working on conceding fewer points.

"Guards-wise we are really strong, we just feel we need a big forward to add to our squad."