EDITOR’S NOTE: Firstly, apologies for last week’s column which for some reason showed up as the one from 12 months ago. Hopefully, the Gremlins have been sorted now and this one is up to date.
City of Birmingham Rockets captain Martyn Gayle looks back at the weekend defeat at Derby, and sets up Saturday’s first home league game of the season when Nottingham Hoods are the visitors – buy tickets HERE. In between, there’s also been time for a team bonding session!
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LAST weekend’s defeat at Derby was a disappointing way to start our first league game of the season.
We’d had a great start to the campaign by reaching the BBL Trophy semi-finals – which are just over a week away.
But maybe that just caught up with us. We let Derby in we dug a hole a little bit too deep for us to get back out of.
Ultimately, at the end, it was a valiant effort by all of us, but we just couldn’t get over that hump and we ended up losing by five after being 10 down at the halfway point. We rallied late on and it was close by the end.
🚀 Rockets battled back late on but Derby hold on to take the win in our first league game of the season.
Join us next Saturday as we look to bounce back to winning ways against Nottingham Hoods in our home opener!
Tickets are available here 🎫 https://t.co/9SMxSsKVFO pic.twitter.com/yypStYdQDj
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) October 11, 2025
But there were good things to take from the game and we’ve had some good practice this week.
We know where we’ve made our mistakes and where we need to rectify them. We all want to be better. So we’ve looked at that. We have to look at the bright side. It’s only one game. We’ve lost we move on, and we try and be better for the next one.
The day after, we all got together for a team bonding session at the David Lloyd Gym in Great Barr.
We all played Padel – which seems to be the up-and-coming game right now.
That was good fun and great for team morale, especially after the loss the previous night. So it was good to get back together again on a happier note.
I go to that gym myself and you met people that go in and play Padel, it’s just non-stop but really enjoyable and a great game. It’s not too strenuous – not as big as a tennis court.
🚀 Book your tickets now for Saturday’s regular season home opener and get 20% off BCB Trophy semifinal tickets!
It’s set to be a HUGE couple of weeks for your Rockets – and we need your support!
Let’s go Birmingham. Let’s go Rockets!#WeAreRockets pic.twitter.com/1zlgfucdXd
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) October 13, 2025
So, we need to get back to winning ways on Saturday night. We’’ve got a good opponent in Nottingham. They’re a lot different to how they were last year.
They were strong, but more mature. They’ve had a good run themselves in the Trophy before losing to Falkirk in the end. Nottingham have made some great signings this summer. I like the coach and what they’ve got going on over there.
They beat us last year by a point when we played them over at the Arena in the city – so we’re out for revenge!
