Marvellous Marvin Addy insists Worthing Thunder are better prepared than ever to knock Teesside of their NBL perch.

The mighty Mohawks will be favourites to take more silverware back to the north east when they tackle Gary Smith's men in the Trophy final at the NIA in Birmingham tomorrow (4pm).

A repeat of last year's nightmare against the same opponents is certainly not on the agenda for the men from Sussex and they will complete preparations this afternoon for what they hope will be the greatest day in their four-year history.

Addy hit the winning points in the semi and is one of the survivors from last year's final.

He failed to score a point as, following on from Chester's thrilling defeat of Birmingham in the national cup showpiece, Mohawks strolled to a 99-77 success at a fast-emptying Sheffield Arena.

The easy-going Londoner said: "I'm looking forward to it. We have got a much better chance than last year because it was new to the players then.

"The way we lost last year is something you cannot forget. We will be coming out a lot more ready than we did then, though."

Thunder have not played for three weeks but Smith has staged four practice sessions in the past week or so.

The players were on duty last night and Addy was among those who stayed in town ahead of today's tactics session, when coach Smith was set to give his men the lowdown on Teesside.

Last Wednesday's workout took the form of a practice match between Thunder and Brighton Cougars which Smith felt was of benefit to both teams.

He said: "It was just what we needed to run off the Christmas turkey and get ready for the weekend.

"We are fully fit and everyone is ready to go.

"We will do a lot of talking about Teesside and watch some tape but really it's all about how we are going to play.

"I will tell them about some Teesside players and what's what, then we'll go for it."

Teesside tend to have a settled look about them and have boosted their squad this season with the signing of big Carl Miller, a BBL Trophy semi-finalist with Leopards last season.

American stars like Elijah Perkins, EJ Harrison and hotshot Ralph Bucci, Australian Steve Pilkington and up-and-coming English talent Jon Stonebridge are well known to followers of the NBL.

Smith respects them all but reckons the biggest danger is Jason Swaine, his former team mate at Sheffield Sharks.

He said: "You cannot leave any of their shooters open and especially not Swainy. We will have to be at our best on defence."

Addy will be interested to hear what coach Smith makes of the Mohawks but reckons he knows a bit about them already.

He said: "I have been playing against them for six years straight and they always seem to have the same three or four players and then bring in a couple of new ones every year.

"To be honest, I'm not nervous. As soon as the ball goes up I want to win and I will do all I can to achieve that."

Thunder have made several personnel changes since last year's final and there is unlikely to be a repeat of the scenario when Smith had to put himself on court to sort out his mis-firing team.

Daniel Hildreth and Addy will share back court duties with James Brame, one of the relative successes of last season's final, and young Rani Malik coming off the bench.

Lavoris Jerry should revel on the big stage while Gaylon Moore, at centre, will expect support inside form Damian Harris and Nick O'Harabe.

A decent line-up. Thunder fans will pray it is decent enough.