the British Masters trophy to play for. The British Masters began early in the season, Portsmouth beating lower division sides Caercastell and Plymouth Raiders away in the opening rounds. Victory at home to Bracknell Pirates at the end of October took them into the second qualifying stage in March, when they won 82–74 at Hemel & Watford and finished the job with a 101–99 success in the second leg. That brought a quarter-final with Crystal Palace, and expectations were raised by a comeback from 16 points down to win 108–107 at the National Sports Centre. But again it went wrong at home, and a 106–118 defeat brought a premature end to Portsmouth's season on 26 March 1986. 1986–87 season The carpet, original kits and caretaker coach had gone when action resumed, as had many of the team. Slaughter, Dassie, Wells, Bailey, Harris and Hayles departed, while Lloyd became player-coach. New faces were American Danny Williams, Mike Spaid from Hemel & Watford Royals, and Karl Tatham. Trevor Anderson was in the squad at the start but his number 4 vest was later filled by American Lawrence Held. The new team began with a 94–87 home win over Leicester on 20 September 1986, but they suffered a setback at home to Kingston a week later. Steve Nelson missed a free throw with the scores tied at 93 at the end of the game, and the visitors pulled away to win 106–97 in overtime despite a 32-point haul from Colin Irish. Eleven league wins in a row kept them well in contention for the title but the run ended with an 89–74 defeat in the return game at Leicester on 9 January 1987. Six more wins followed before another decisive clash with Kingston at Tolworth on 11 February. Portsmouth needed to win by at least ten points to win the 'head to head' contest with Kingston and move to the top of the league. Colin Irish hit two three-pointers in the opening seconds and Portsmouth ran out 106–88 winners. The title was confirmed when Alan Cunningham made a lay-up with two seconds left to secure a 90–88 victory away to Hemel & Watford at the Dacorum Leisure Centre in Hemel Hempstead on 18 February. The trophy was presented after the final home game two nights later, an 85–90 defeat by Manchester United. All the seating tickets were sold in advance and the balcony