Raiders overcome Patriots in the Plymouth derby

ANOTHER sold out crowd crammed into the Life Centre to cheer the Plymouth Raiders to their second home win of the season - and with it local bragging rights over their crosscity rivals the Plymouth Patriots.

- MARTYN NORMAN

Capacity crowds are becoming the norm at Raiders, with the previous league game and this summer's AllStar game also attracting huge support from the Green Machine faithful.

Marjon were the visitors on Sunday and Raiders entered the game after having had the luxury of almost two weeks off away from game action, with their guests having played Solent and Surrey, taking one win and a loss in those games.

Raiders were given a pre-game boost with the return of Tom ElliotSmith following a hand injury, and he was an ever-present in what would be another game for Raiders in which their defence came out on top.

This showed with the first quarter ending 11-17 in favour of a Pats team that won't be used to playing in such a low scoring game with their style of play being heavily weighted towards the offensive end of the court.

The second quarter started as the first had ended, with both teams having to work hard to limit their opponents' ability to score points and that all-important opportunity to build up any sort of superiority on the scoreboard.