IT is going to be a massive test of our mental toughness and physical conditioning this weekend.

Tomorrow night, we make the long journey to face Newcastle Eagles in the British Basketball League and then we return home to take on Milton Keynes Lions the following day.

We had tried to rearrange one of the games but were unsuccessful. But this is the nature of our sport and something we have to deal with.

We are travelling up to Newcastle on a mini-coach and, by doing so, this should cut down our time on the road as it is able to go faster than a normal coach.

Of course, we will encounter traffic on the way up there but the return home should be quicker as it is late at night.

Reigning champions Newcastle are a strong, physical side which is something we will have to deal with.

I went to watch their BBL Cup match against Cheshire Jets, which they lost 64-61, and it was more like American football.

The Lions are another physical side and we have to become accustomed to playing these strong teams.

It was disappointing for us to go out of the cup at Leicester Riders last weekend, especially as we had an 18-point lead at one stage.

We nearly threw away the league game against them the previous week in the final quarter so to actually do that this time around was hard to take.

I have said before that we are an average side at the moment and the Leicester game highlights that even more so — good teams do not throw away 18-point leads.

We are playing good basketball for the first 20 to 30 minutes but that doesn’t count for a lot when the match lasts 40.

We are lacking leadership on the court and our inexperience is being shown up.

But that is something we are all going to have to focus on and adapt our game accordingly.

Nerijus Karlikanovas made his debut for us at Leicester and had a decent game.

I have to be careful in building him up too much, as he is still adapting to the way we play, but he will be a useful addition to our squad.

I thought the players did well in the first-half with Evaldas Zabas and Nerijus giving us a decent lead.

But, in the second-half, none of them performed.

However, you have to look at where we were a few weeks ago when we lost 100-71 to Sheffield Sharks.

We have made improvements — significant ones at that. But the last couple of games show improvements still need to be made.

Hopefully, we will have a good crowd on Saturday night at the University of Worcester for our game against the Lions as that will help lift our energy levels after a long trip to Newcastle.