THUNDER'S DOUBLE TEST

London-based Okolie Ugbana, new American centre from Baltimore, Teon Knox, and new forward from college in Arkansas, Steve Parillon, all arrived on court only eight minutes before taking on unbeaten Manchester Magic. None started but made later impact while Thunder pulled out a victory for first-time financial backers, Barkers of Tarring, with the timely help of a late technical foul on Manchester coach Jeff Jones.

Any disciplinary measures against those players by coach Gary Smith will have been probably accompanied by Thunder organisation's automatic fines for Ugbana, Steve Gayle and Daniel Hildreth for receiving technical fouls in the game. Smith himself got one, along with the bench, but some of those Teed up seemed victims rather than perpetrators.

Thunder then repeated their final-quarter acceleration next day against London United to earn a National Cup quarter-final at home to PAWS London Capitals (formerly NW London) at home on November 7 at 8pm.

The dust then settled on two games, in which Thunder captain Gaylon Moore played every minute, and the new unprededentedly strong Thunder line-up looked to have survived searching early-season tests from potential honours rivals.

Manchester and London United matched Thunder for height '” the vital prerequisite for ultimate silverware success.

Against Magic, Thunder shared a momentous rebounding and shot-blocking battle, lost the shooting contest but won the possession game and were almost faultless in free-shooting.

This was against a typical Jones combination of youth and experience, the latter including legendary English ex-NBA starting centre, John Amaechi, and beefy back-up scorer Matt Hogarth. Spring-heeled forward Andrew Lovedale, just back from playing in the USA, plus new American point-guard Terrell Ivory, were troublesome and prolific.

United were even harder and the final score slightly flattered Thunder, owing to a last- minute procession of foul-line visits. United plundered Thunder's board but Thunder's passionate defending limited the resultant second attempts and more bonus points came in from around the rest of the Thunder team.

This Magic team will get better still and United are likely to come out even stronger in their two league games against Thunder if they include Donal Hockey, who missed Sunday.

After one thrilling game, the fans returned for more and got another on Sunday.

Jeff Jones ("Worthing are tough") was Teed at 83-83 (1:02 min), just after Amaechi had missed two frees. The 6ft 8in Knox (Worthing's own TK Max) made his four penalty shots, then Parillon added a free after grabbing a massive offensive rebound next play.

Steven Gayle and Parillon then made pairs of frees to complete a match-deciding run of nine from 10.

If Saturday was a ding-dong, Sunday was a match of streaks. Down 2-13, Thunder went 11-0 and 10-0 to lead 33-23, only for United to retort 20-4. But Thunder's 8-0 gave them a one-point halfway lead after a second quarter in which Parillon played no part.

After a three-pointer-peppered third quarter an 8-0 dash put Worthing 69-62 up at the break. But United's 11-0 to leave Thunder only 79-76 up met a 14-4 from Thunder for a 91-81 lead going into the final 90 seconds. And when big Damian Reid made only one of four frees, United conceded the floor to a Daniel Hildreth-orchestrated Thunder display.

So to Sheffield on Saturday for the next on-court examination.