before Treasure sank a three-pointer on the buzzer to narrow their margin of victory to 88–85. Shackleford scored another 33 at Manchester Giants, who beat Portsmouth 80–73, before the curtain came down at home to Birmingham Bullets on 10 March. A fourth future Portsmouth player, Karl Tatham, appeared against them, scoring 12 points, but the day was all about whether the departing players could record a second victory to say farewell. At half-time it was a possibility, with Portsmouth only down 42–36, but Birmingham extended their lead to 21 points before a late home surge took the final score to 86–79 in the visitors' favour. Owen scored 23 points but for the final time it was the Dale Shackleford show, as Portsmouth's star American defied five stitches in a hand to sign off with 36. Major investment In the summer of 1985 John Deacon provided the budget to bring a host of star players to the south coast. On 26 April Dan Lloyd was signed from Manchester Giants, along with former Crystal Palace player Joe White who had been at university in the US, to Join the retained Steve Nelson and Dave Harris plus the recently signed Joel Moore. Soon to follow were Alan Cunningham, from Worthing, Colin Irish, from Manchester United, Larry Dassie, Trevor Anderson, Kalpatrick Wells, Andrew Bailey, Eddie Fontaine and Michael Hayles. 1985–86 season The new Portsmouth line-up, with an all-blue first choice strip and all-white change colours, played on a green and terracotta roll-out carpet court at the Mountbatten Centre during 1985–86. After remaining unbeaten in a series of friendlies, including one against a German side at the Mountbatten Centre on 8 September, they made a tremendous start to the season, winning their first 16 matches, including 11 in the league. The first match was a 96–91 home National Cup win over Crystal Palace on 20 September 1985, followed by their first league game two days later, an 83–68 home victory over Solent. On 23 October Portsmouth went to the Tolworth Recreation Centre in Surrey and beat league champions Kingston 99–86. There was now a fierce battle for supremacy between these teams which defined Portsmouth's period in the UK game. The easy 65-mile drive up and down the A3 also meant large away followings for both clubs in these matches. Interest was rising among the Portsmouth public and on 9 November the home game against Manchester