Raiders' victory makes it seven in a row at home

PLYMOUTH Raiders continued their unbeaten home streak in National Two with their seventh straight win in front a record crowd on Sunday as they comfortably beat Bracknell Cobras at the Life Centre.

- By ROSS MACKENZIE

Both teams wearing different shades of green had the optically challenged amongst us seeing double, but there was no mistaking the Raiders' motivations during the early exchanges as the (deep forest) green and gold machine looked to make amends for dropping their guard in Portsmouth last weekend.

Tom Elliott-Smith, currently leading the charge for Raiders as lead scorer in recent games, wasn't in the mood to let that slip as he rampaged through the Cobras defence and when not beating up defences, he showed his deft touch from range.

With Point Guard Ryan Peard back on the floor and a significant miss last week, he was keen to use the atmosphere generated from the 800-strong indoor crowd to full effect and he duly obliged with his trademark all-action style which at times threatened to boil over with a few testy exchanges with the Bracknell guards.

The first quarter went to the home side's script with a 22-9 lead and by halftime, Raiders had extended that comfortably to 38-20 through a gritty defensive performance, something sorely lacking on the South Coast last week.