THIRD-from-bottom Worcester Wolves may be low on numbers and struggling for form in the British Basketball League.

But head coach Paul James is confident Wolves can come up with a strategy to “disrupt” visitors Leicester Riders tonight (7.30pm).

Worcester have lost four of their first five games of the league season and received the blow of losing Elvisi Dusha through injury following Jermel Kennedy’s departure.

In stark contrast, second-placed Leicester have won four and lost one as they remain in hot pursuit of unbeaten leaders Newcastle Eagles.

With only six senior players available James admitted it was a “tricky” weekend as they also face a trip to Manchester Giants on Sunday (5pm).

But he insisted they would be ready to go toe-to-toe with Riders when they visit the University of Worcester Arena.

“They are a tough team and will rotate players in and out to keep the intensity and level of play high,” James said.

“That is something we are going to have to deal with and look to try to slow them down by taking the pace out of the ball.

“We need to manage the time players are on the court as best we can and come up with some sort of strategy that will hopefully disrupt Leicester a bit, throw them off sync and help us at the same time.”

Following Kennedy’s exit and Dusha’s injury, Wolves coped well in beating Glasgow Rocks 97-85 in the BBL Cup quarter-finals.

But James admits fatigue then played a big factor in their 82-76 defeat to Rocks at the Arena last Friday as they struggled with their lack of options off the bench.

“Glasgow had the better of the third quarter and in the fourth it was nip and tuck again,” James said.

“I just felt we ran out of steam with three or four minutes to go and our concentration and focus wasn’t there like it was the week before where we played for 40 minutes.

“We were making mistakes down the stretch that we would not have made at the start of the game.

“That can only be down to fatigue and players not thinking clearly which was disappointing.

“I certainly felt Glasgow were there for the beating and for all the adjustments they made and how hard they played I still think we should have had enough there to finish the game off.

“It is going to be a very tricky weekend. Obviously we have got Leicester who have started well this season and then we go to Manchester who are very tough on their court.”