Sluggish Coventry Crusaders looked as if they had just eaten their Christmas dinner as their New Year confidence evaporated with a heavy defeat in Manchester.

After losing Eduard Girbal in training to a back injury late in the week, and still not having the services of Colin Rhooms due to his ankle injury, and Manny Sharland who has yet to return from holiday, the Crusaders were missing some skills that would have helped on match night.

Coach Dip Donaldson said:

"The team still believes in each other but we just need to sharpen up on a few small points that will make the difference in road games. The key area that hurt us throughout this game was 90 per cent in our minds.

"That is something that can be fixed. In the short term the Christmas break was bad for our flow, but in the long run it was good for the likes of Dominic Davis who has been injured most of the season with a bad back."

Davis led the Crusaders with 15 points on the night. Nick Pope played very well hitting his first three pointer for the Crusaders in his first season with the senior team.

At half time the Crusaders were down by 9 points, but lack of defensive intensity, slowness of pace, and lapses in concentration all contributed to Manchester running away with the game.  

Definitely the quickness and intensity in which Rhooms, Girbal and Sharland play were missed. 

Linsley and Gomez did most of the scoring for the Magic with 21 and 24 points respectively.

Although Crusaders had five players with double figures, the figures were far short of their opposition’s.. 

Crusaders: Davis 15, Collins 14, D Pope 13, Harrison 11, Scott 10, Livingston 3, N. Pope 3