Cheshire Phoenix coach Ben Thomas believes the next month of BBL Championship action will be critical to his side’s success this term

After a fixture-free weekend, the Ellesmere Port club sit eighth in the standings and occupy the final play-off spot.

But in a closely-congested division Thomas feels the prospect of finishing among the league's elite will hinge on their next four results.

He said: "We're in a strong position with 11 games remaining now, but the next month or so will be massive for us.

"After London City Royals at home we're looking at home games against Sheffield and Newcastle, before we go to Leicester at the end of March.

"It's going to be a tough run, but the players and the staff know exactly what's at stake and what we need to do in the final third of the season.

"The division is wide open right now and anyone from fifth down to tenth are in with a chance of making the play-offs.

"If we want to be in amongst the play-offs we need to keep showing we can compete with the best teams in this division, which is something we've shown at various times so far this season

"It'll come down to fine margins by the end of the season, so it's important that we're taking points off our those clubs around us.

"Where we can, we want to be improving our head-to-head record too and giving ourselves every advantage possible."

London City Royals set up a BBL Trophy final showdown with London Lions after both teams came through their last four match-ups over the weekend.

The Royals recorded a169-137 victory over two legs against Glasgow Rocks with an 83-71 success on the road.

The Lions locked down their place on Thursday, despite a 105-100 loss to Manchester Giants in the second leg with a 201-179 aggregate success.

Manchester bounced back with a 76-75 home triumph over Newcastle Eagles.