Randy Duck will return to the job he hates in a bid to guide Brighton Bears to the British League title.

Duck has been confirmed as stand-in coach for Saturday's clash with lowly Leicester Riders at the Brighton Centre (7pm) in the absence of Nick Nurse, who is suspended.

Nurse has been banned for three matches following his recent ejection at Scottish Rocks but is hopeful an appeal, which will be considered today, will trim one game off that penalty.

He is sure to miss the Leicester game and is also likely to be banned for the trip to Birmingham Bullets a week on Saturday as Bears chase the two wins they need to clinch top spot.

Duck, back in training and recovering steadily after his recent hernia operation, walks straight into a tactical conundrum as Bears face Leicester without top scorer Kendrick Warren, whose one-game ban for ejection in the defeat in Scotland is not being contested.

Although Duck made no secret of his dislike of the job when he coached earlier this season, it at least gives him the chance to guide Bears to what he considers to be the top prize.

He said: "People know how I feel about coaching.

"I'm just interested in getting our team to the league championship and Saturday is a big move that way.

"When you start the season everyone is out for the league title.

"It's the most prestigious, honourable thing we have in England.

"It's over 36 games, it's a true test. You get the truth over 36 games.

"Some part of me likes it that I'm involved and still part of the team but another part of me feels it's hard to be doing this instead of what I want to do.

"I'm as into it as I possibly can be in practice and talking to the guys."

So how do Bears cope with the absence of Warren's 20.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game?

With just seven men available, everyone will expect decent playing time but Jason Siemon looks like starting.

Nurse said: "Right away you think 'What do you do for starting line-up?'

"Do you play Yorick (Williams) and go smaller or do you stick Jason in there, let him play centre and Drew (Alleyne) power forward and be bigger than you would be.

"It probably looks like Jason right now because Leicester have got a good big guy in John Smith but it doesn't matter that much.

"Things are going to change the whole way. They've got a versatile line-up so everybody will have to shift about anyway.

"We'll get prepared this week but on game night it's down to Randy to organise playing time and the defences we use more than anything.

"One of my big things is to continually monitor who is playing well and it's one of the things I've tried to teach him to do.

"I'd be really concerned about missing games if we hadn't been through it already this year but at least they've got some experience of it."

Tactically, Bears will compensate for being short-handed by sitting back in a zone defence, rather than their more usual high-intensity man-to-man approach which forces steals and errors but offers more risk of fatigue and foul trouble.

Inevitably, that will allow Leicester chances to score from three-point range but Bears will take a calculated gamble on that.

Statistically, Leicester are the worst three-point shooting team in the league, with just a 30.5 per cent success rate, while Bears are the best rebounders.

The word from both head and stand-in coaches is not to be alarmed if Bears are not winning at half time.

Duck said: "I just want to get into the second half without anyone getting into any foul trouble, then I'll open them up a little bit."

Nurse is promising a few new touches off the court and promised "a great night" but what would really top it off would be Bears clinching the title.

That means they must beat Leicester and Sheffield must lose at home to a Chester Jets side still reeling for their 50-point thrashing by Bears last week.

The Sheffield game also tips off at 7pm, in theory anyway, although in practice that is likely to mean ten or quarter-past given the tendency for delayed starts in the steel city.

Sheffield also have games at Milton Keynes on Sunday and Newcastle next Friday before Bears go to Birmingham.

By then, they will hope to have the title issue well and truly resolved, whoever is shouting the orders.