Caledonia Gladiators may be the underdogs when they face London Lions in the semi-final of the BBL Trophy today but, as club captain, Fahro Alihodzic, has been reminding his players all week, the Scottish side are defending champions and he expects them to act exactly like that when they take to the court in Birmingham this afternoon.
Gladiators’ BBL Trophy victory last season was an historic moment with it being the club’s first piece of silverware in 20 years.
But Alihodzic is desperate for his side to back up last year’s win this weekend, with the final taking place tomorrow afternoon, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the semi-finals.
London Lions are favourites to end the weekend as champions; they’re the form team and are currently sitting top of the BBL, 18 points clear of second-placed Gladiators.
But the Scottish side, who defeated Cheshire Phoenix in the dying seconds of last year’s final, have been in this position before and Alihodzic is clear about his expectations of his side today and, if they reach the final, tomorrow.
“We’re excited for the semi-finals. The main thing I’ve been telling the guys is that we’re defending champions so we need to act like that. We need to hold our heads high and play like champions,” the 34-year-old says.
“We managed it last year so that’s our goal again this weekend.
“We’re defending champions and I’ve been stressing that to the guys. We take that responsibility very seriously.
“We want to win this trophy again.”
Gladiators’ status as underdogs against London Lions may relieve a touch of the pressure upon their shoulders but Alihodzic is disinterested in any suggestion that it’s a forgone conclusion that London will progress to tomorrow’s final.
In the teams’ three meetings so far this season, London lead the head-to-head 2-1 but Gladiators’ victory last month, on London’s home turf, indicates that the Scottish side is more than capable of springing a surprise today.
Upsetting the odds is something Alihodzic knows is possible but he is also fully aware that to progress to tomorrow’s final, his men, under the watchful eye of team manager, Gareth Murray, will have to produce their very best form for every one of the 40 minutes of the semi-final.
“We feel like the underdogs against London but we believe that, if we play our best, we absolutely have a chance to win,” the 6ft 10in centre says.
“It’s going to be about who plays better on the day, it’s as simple as that. We’ve beaten them so we know we can do it.
“But our margin for error will be very small and we’ll need to take all of our chances. We won’t have the luxury of missing shots and missing turnovers – we need to take advantage of every opportunity we get to make sure we score our points and stop them from scoring. If we do that, we’ll have a chance to come out on top at the end of the game.”
A victory for Gladiators this weekend would make it a hat-trick of BBL Trophy wins for Alihodzic, who was part of the London Lions team who were crowned champions in 2021 as well as, of course, Gladiators’ trophy-winning side last year.
But a victory this weekend would, potentially, be the most significant of them all for the Bosnian-Brit.
“For me, the biggest difference this year is that I’m now captain of the team. To think that on Sunday, I could be lifting the trophy for my team – it’s massive,” he says.
“It would mean so much for the club. Everyone’s really happy with the progress the club is making and the club is exactly where we want it to be.”
A sizeable travelling support is expected to head south to the West Midlands this weekend, with two of the most vocal Gladiators’ fans likely to be Alihodzic’s 3-year-old twins.
They may yet be a touch too young to appreciate the full significance of this weekend for their dad but it doesn’t stop them looking forward to match days.
“My son is more interested than my daughter – he comes to the team’s practices,” he says.
“He gets his jersey on and he knows we have a big game this weekend. My daughter is less interested but she still loves coming to the games – she loves the noise at the big games and they both love being allowed to stay up late.
“It’d be great to win it in front of them.”
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