Mersey Tigers coach Tony Garbelotto praises Final venue

MERSEY TIGERS V GUILDFORD HEAT
BBL Trophy Final
Venue: O2 Arena, London Date: Saturday, 5 March 2011 Kick-off: 1330 GMT Coverage:Live commentay online from BBC Surrey, updates on BBC Radio Merseyside

Garbelotto won the BBL Championship with the Everton Tigers last season

Mersey Tigers coach Tony Garbelotto says the O2 Arena is the perfect stage to host Saturday's BBL Trophy final.

The Tigers face Guildford with two wins over their opponents this season.

"It is a big place and as soon as you park you suddenly realise what an incredible place it is," Garbelotto told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"This is a big deal for every player, there will be some nerves and that's good. At the same time we need to be more focused and ready to play."

The Tigers have been boosted by the news that captain Andrew Sullivan will lead the team onto the court on Saturday after suffering an injury in training last week.

But there is an air of caution in the camp ahead of the game, as the Tigers have already lost one final this season, suffering a 93-66 defeat to Sheffield in January's BBL Cup final.

"I don't believe Guildford possess the type of weapons to beat us like Sheffield did," said Garbelotto.

"But at the same time they are still in a one-off final and could easily come out with a win."

Power forward David Aliu is determined this latest showpiece event ends in a very different fashion.

"We've got to make sure that we prepare properly this time," said Aliu. "Not that we didn't prepare properly last time, but we can't let that happen again.

"We can't be in a situation where we go out and get blown away and lose another final. We can't let it happen twice and can't be in that situation again."