HEAD coach Paul James believes his side’s early-season blip against Sheffield Sharks could be a blessing in the long run for Worcester Wolves.

After a promising start to the British Basketball League campaign, Wolves lost 78-64 to Sheffield at the University of Worcester Arena last Friday.

James admitted the “poor” performance came as a surprise, having beaten Cheshire Phoenix on the opening day before pushing reigning champions Leicester Riders close.

However, he said they were now determined to “nip it in the bud” and make sure the disappointing display does not become a trend this term.

“There is no denying it was a poor performance,” said James, whose side also won all three of their pre-season games, including a convincing victory over Sharks.

“It was a little bit of a surprise as we had not seen that side of the team in pre-season or even in our opening games, so to come out and not perform as well as we had done in previous weeks was very disappointing.

“It is really early in the season but it is not a trend we want to set for the rest of the season.

“In a way, it is a blessing the little blip has come now because we can nip it in the bud and move forward.”

James said he was unhappy with how his side performed at both ends of the court against Sheffield.

But, with over a week before Wolves welcome Glasgow Rocks to the arena on Friday, October 14 (7.30pm), he insisted they had time to put things right. “If you look at all areas, we were not at it,” he said. “Defensively, we were not as intense as we had been and they had way too many easy scores.

“Offensively, we were a little bit slow and did not move the ball as well as we had done in previous games.

“We ended up taking nearly 25 shots less than they did in the game and that’s just not the way we are going to play this season. Things just did not work out for us.

“It’s going to happen every now and again where we are not quite feeling it on the day but we have worked really hard this week to make sure that doesn’t happen again as we know we are a better team than we showed.

“Guys, who are normally very consistent, did not have great games but hopefully that one bad game is out of the way and we can move on.”