Skipper Paco Castagna upbeat over Edinburgh Monarchs' KO Cup chances
The Edinburgh Monarchs will need to overturn a 12-point deficit if they are to progress to the KO Cup semi-finals.
The Capital septet went down 51-39 to the Redcar Bears at the ECCO Arena on Teesside on Friday night, Kye Thomson top scoring for the visitors with 12 paid 13.
The reserve berths proved to be the Monarchs' Achilles heel with the hosts outscoring them 13-1.
The second leg takes place at Armadale on Friday and captain Paco Castagna remains confident the Monarchs can secure a positive outcome.
"It was a tough night, the track was difficult at the start," he said. "It was the same for both teams who struggled to get used to it and it is a shame as before the meeting I felt we could have won. But Redcar got used to the track quicker than us so fair play to them.
"Me personally I was happy with how I scored (9). I have been struggling a little with the starts so far this season but that was improved so hopefully I can take that into next week and the rest of the season.
"I still feel like we can pull it back at home. We are strong at home and we have a couple of guys that had a bit of an off night but that happens. It is a team sport and we win and lose as a team and as a team I still think we can beat Redcar next week and go through."