IF losing to Sandringham on Saturday night was bad for the Albury-Wodonga Bandits, then Sunday's loss to Kilsyth was little short of a disaster.
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Going 0-2 in a road double for the second time in as many weeks meant the Bandits crashed out of the top four – with some key injuries merely adding salt to the wound.
Darcy Harding suffering a groin injury at shooting practice on Friday meant the Bandits already had their back to the wall against the Sabres on Saturday night.
Though they started strong, leading at the first break, a poor second half cost the Bandits a disappointing 110-83 loss.
Things went from bad to worse three minutes into Sunday's match against Kilysth when power forward Mitch Newton was helped from the court.
The power forward was desperately unlucky to come off second best after being collected below the knees by a Kilsyth defender who had fallen to the floor contesting a shot.
It's uncertain how bad the injury is.
The Bandits bravely pushed on without him, building a 14-point half-time lead.
They led by as much as 19 at one stage, but, as they have been prone to doing this season, coughed up the lead in the second half.
Undermanned in the paint without Newton or Harding on the floor, the Cobras were able to come back and ultimately secure a crucial 103-90 win.
Though they had their backs to the wall because of injury, Bandits head coach Brad Chalmers said it was disappointing to lose another two road games.
“We gave up 32 points in the last quarter (against Kilsyth), but the bigger issue was a lack of scoreboard pressure at the other end,” he said.
“We've talked about our offence helping out our defence, it was one of those things where we took a lot of ill-advised shots and lost our rhythm.
“It became a battle of size and a battle of fresh legs in the end as well.
“Things ended up snowballing a bit, but it was disappointing, I still think we could have won that one.”
The Bandits will return to the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre for a must-win game against North-West Tasmania next Friday night.
“We'll continue to lick our wounds, but we've made some positive adjustments” Chalmers said.
“Sometimes these things happen, we just have to grit our teeth and stay positive, but also keep working to address what we aren’t doing well.”