The Greater London Leopards host the Sheffield Sharks at the Brentwood Centre this Sunday in the first of a three game series to secure a semi-final place at Wembley on May 1.

The Adidas Greater London Leopards won the capital Championship and beat the Exide London Towers in overtime.

They now prepare for the first of a three game series against the 1998/99 Budweiser League Champions, the Sheffield Sharks.

The last time these two teams met the Leopards came out on top and prior to that they met up in the National Cup Final where the Sharks won with a 'buzzer-beater'.

When the Leopards won the Championship in 1998 they were knocked out of the play-offs by the team in eighth position, the Manchester Giants, so this season with the Leopards in eighth position they are looking to repeat history and know the 1999 champions out of the Wembley finals.

Coach Billy Mims said: "The Leopards are now realising their full potential and beating teams above them in the League and they are extremely hungry for some silverware.

''Teams like Sheffield look unbeatable but we have proven that it can be done and with this win against the Towers under our belt, which always mans a lot to the Leopards organisation, you can expect them to have a new-found confidence and belief in themselves.

''Last year my team was not at Wembley but I was there coaching one of the Celebrity All-Star teams and this year I hope to be doing both".

The first of these play-off games will be at Brentwood Centre on Sunday, (April 11), and looks to be one of the most fiercely contested games of the Leopards season so far.

The tip off is at 4pm and the entrance fee is: adults £7, children £5, and family (2+2) £20.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.