ROCKETS captain Martyn Gayle looks back on a frustrating week for the team – with Sunday’s match at Reading called off for reasons you don’t expect at an indoor venue. But Birmingham return to action on Saturday night at Bristol Hurricanes, looking to pick up on their early season momentum.
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LAST week was a first for me, and I suspect it would have been for most basketball players.
On Sunday, we were due to travel to Reading Rockets for a league game.
But it was called off at the last minute – due to water leaking on to the court.
It’s not something I’ve ever come across before, but apparently it’s an ongoing problem at the Reading venue.
But we had already started our journey south before the game was called off.
We’d been told that there was a wheelchair basketball match due to take place before ours – and if that couldn’t go ahead, then our game would be off.
❌ Today’s BCB fixture away at Reading Rockets has been postponed due to a leak at Loddon Valley.
We will communicate details of the rearranged fixture as soon as we have them.
Thank you for your continued support!#WeAreRockets pic.twitter.com/pHxMHzgv2z
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) November 2, 2025
But we had to set off from Birmingham in case it was given the go-ahead. We didn’t want to be late.
However, 45 minutes in, we got the message through that the court wasn’t playable.
But it was difficult to hide our disappointment. The guys were fired up, we’d got some momentum going and wanted to keep it going.
We’d prepared for it and had our game plan. But that had to be shelved and now we’ll wait to see when the game can be fitted in to our schedule.
It means that Saturday’s game at Bristol Hurricanes will see us hyped up even more.
Hopefully there are no more leaky rooves, hopefully it’s not contagious!
We really wanted that game last Sunday, so we have to take that on to our next match.
It’s not the first time we’ve played Bristol this season, we beaten them in the BCB Trophy, but they have brought in some new faces again.
❌ Today’s BCB fixture away at Reading Rockets has been postponed due to a leak at Loddon Valley.
We will communicate details of the rearranged fixture as soon as we have them.
Thank you for your continued support!#WeAreRockets pic.twitter.com/pHxMHzgv2z
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) November 2, 2025
We’ve underlined this season the need for us to perform on the road at places like this and Reading.
Although we have a great fanbase and the atmosphere is amazing at home games, we have to get results on our travels, and this is a chance to show we can do that.
Our coach Charles Smith has prepared for this week’s game because this is what’s in front of us and we can only do what’s next.
The players dealt with the disappointment well this week and we’ve carried on as usual.
But the Reading game had been a chance to give our latest recruit a debut.
Adrian Mutothori joined last weekend and could make an appearance at Bristol.
He has been playing his basketball in Germany with BCB Bremerhaven, which was his team last season.
