CHESHIRE PHOENIX coach Ben Thomas said it felt ‘devastating’ for the club to miss out on the BBL Championship play-offs.

The Nix retained slim hopes of sneaking into the top eight, but back-to-back defeats against Worcester Wolves and London Lions in the final regular season weekend saw their campaign end with a whimper.

Instead Sheffield Sharks claimed the final play-off spot courtesy of their 103-61 demolition of fellow qualifiers Glasgow Rocks.

With their season now over, Thomas says the Nix must take the positives from a campaign which saw them claim a stunning BBL Cup win in January.

He said: “This wasn’t the way I wanted our season to end at all. The Sheffield result was pretty devastating and it was difficult for us to pick ourselves up in those remaining games.

“The players were down and the weekend didn’t go how we wanted, because everyone here wanted to extend their season via the play-offs.

“We’ve played 40 games this season and we’ve won 20 and lost 20, which isn’t a bad record overall and winning the cup final was a major high-point for us.”

Thomas admits that he is unsure how many of his current roster will remain with the club next term, but insists he will head into next season with an improved knowledge of the division.

He added:”For me as a coach this season has been a massive learning experience and I’m sure the players have learned a lot from it too.

“We’ve got a long way too go now before the start of a new season, so at this moment it’s difficult to say how many of the players will stay on. Some will be looking to move on to bigger and better things. They’ll be speaking to their agents and won’t be rushing any decisions to stay on.

“But from the club’s point of view, we’ll be using the summer months to regroup, strengthen and improve for next season.”