Skipper Randy Duck has admitted he is operating well below full fitness as he bids to lead Brighton Bears to the BBL title.

Duck was in discomfort during last Sunday's nightmare defeat at Thames Valley, his first start since coming back from a hernia operation.

Not that he stayed on court too long, fouling out midway through the third quarter after picking up two charges and a technical in quick succession.

Now he is ready to revise his training schedule, build in more stretching work and help Bears forget a couple of dodgy displays as they visit Newcastle tomorrow.

He revealed: "I didn't feel like I could get warm on Sunday. I felt really heavy and my leg didn't feel very good in my hip area.

"I don't really know what to put that down to other than I have been working it really hard. I might need to ease back on some of the stuff I am doing.

"I wanted to come back and be healthy and I may have hit the gas pedal too much.

"I'm only operating at 65 or 70 percent right now and I hope people aren't looking at me thinking 'What's wrong with you?'."

That 'nightmare' description for of a 99-88 defeat was Duck's own choice of word, not least the moment when he threw the ball away in disgust at a decision and found himself out of of the game.

He said: "I don't place a lot of value on referees or their contributions to the game.

"I didn't say anything to him. I just kind of tossed the ball back and he didn't think that was appropriate.

"It was my action and I have to stand up and be responsible for it but that whole game was a nightmare.

"It felt like I was going to suddenly wake up and say 'Okay, it's game time now'.

"We really played bad and it was upsetting for all of us but it will probably sharpen us up a little bit and make us run a tighter ship.

"We've got a lot of stuff to take care of. We have eight games left that are all extremely important."

Bears gave their sizeable support in Bracknell something to cheer with a late charge which saw them cut arrears from 21 points to four, including a 14-3 run and six three-pointers in six minutes.

Of more concern though was that between the 23rd minute of the previous game with Leopards and the 27th of the Tigers clash, they were outscored 118-78.

The spring sunshine which greeted the players as they emerged from training yesterday will have come as a reminder that this is the time of year when league titles are decided.

Sheffield can regain top, spot by winning at home to Thames Valley tonight but Duck insists his men will respond to the challenge 24 hours later.

He said: "Newcastle is a hard road game. They are playing well, they are a good team, they will have the crowd with them and we have a day of travel.

"All these things add up but I don't see us having problems getting motivated for it after what happened on Sunday.

"I don't have any elements of panic. Sunday was a bad day, a bad game from top to bottom and we will move on."