With both teams having lost 1 game after London's shock away loss to Wolves the night before everyone was well aware of the importance of this game. It came with some pre-game hype as the season decider and both teams played like that could be the case.

United started with Mumuni scoring a lay-up in the lane as Ryan Patten responded with a pull up "J" on Steve Vear. Vear responded by hitting three as Patten then came back down to nail his own deep three from the top of the key. that run from both teams seemed to set the tone for the game as Ryan Patten was obviously the man to stop, but try as they may United just couldn't close him down. He continued to hurt United and racked up 13 1st quarter points giving Sheffield a 22-26 lead.

It was clear that United had the inside mismatches as Gayle matched up with Mantia Callender and fouled twice to try to stop him in the post.

Realistically United should have exploited that size mismatch more and may have let Gayle and Sheffield off the hook.

By the half Patten continued to be their scoring machine notching up 22 of Sheffield's 52 points whilst LU trailed by 11 with 41 with their scoring being spread across Callender, Reid and Mumuni.

United came out ready to play in the 3rd quarter and with a 10 point run up to the 6th minute took the lead by 1 point. Ryan Patten then stepped up again to sink a three and swing the momentum back to Sheffield. The 3rd ended at 62-68 with United trailing although looking like they had the capabilities to win the game.

The last quarter was a very tense affair as United stayed in touch and finally kept Patten from scoring until the 8th minute as they came within 1 point at 79-80 through some good hustle and team work as Callender hit 8 straight inside points and Mumuni scored 2 under the ring, Deppisch then failed to capitalise on a defensive rebound that seemed to fall his way and Patten popped up again, even under immense pressure from Mumuni to sink a three to give them a 4 point cushion going into the 9th.

As we entered the final 44 seconds United found themselves 5 down and put Sheffield on the foul line unnecessarily as they hit 2 from 4 to go 6 up and United could not respond.

Again London gave away a turnover at a crunch time after a defensive rebound as Callender and Williams lost concentration and it gave Sheffield the chance to control the ball forcing London to have to foul again.

London fouled to try and win the game but could not convert at the other end and paid dearly for it as the last 6 points were all scored on the foul line giving Sheffield a huge 11 point victory at 84-95 being more than the 6 point margin United beat them by at Sheffield.

That means that United need to rely on Sheffield to now lose two more games in the league whilst they would have to maintain a 100% record in the second half of the season.

That may be a very big ask as Sheffield are an experienced team and will take some beating by the other teams in this league.

Top Scorers for United: Callender 19, Mumuni 15 and Jagodka 11 Sheffield: Patten 39, Gayle 18 and Cauthorn 13.

London now need to pick themselves up after a devastating weekend and entertain Teesside at Brunel on Sunday 30th January at 4pm.

www.london-united.co.uk