“we have to want it more than they do”
“we have to want it more than they do”
Phantoms face the biggest weekend of their season knowing that there will be no prize for coming second ….. unlike the recent title decider with Bison, defeat in this one offers no consolation whatsoever !
Aggregate victory over the Swindon Wildcats, away on Saturday and home on Sunday, will give Phantoms a tilt at the Divisional Play-Off Final the following weekend and a guaranteed trip to Coventry for the National Play-Off Finals the weekend after …… defeat and the season will be over by 9pm on Sunday evening.
The turnout of fans for the recent Bison game was superb, as was the atmosphere, as was the performance of the team. Coincidence ? Absolutely not ….. big crowd, big atmosphere, loud support and our team has an extra player and they will need that extra player once again on Sunday evening. So, whatever you are planning, if it doesn’t involve being at the game on Sunday then your plans are quite simply wrong ….. change them and put Phantoms first, we need you behind the team more than ever. No excuses, get along and bring as many family members, friends, workmates as you can ….. call them now, text them now, take over their Facebook page, just get us some bodies !
Both camps are staying fairly quiet on the build up to this one but Slava Koulikov has offered a few words to the Peterborough Telegraph today and has made it clear that we will need to want this more than Swindon do ……. “we have to be prepared better than Swindon, we have to execute our gameplan better and we have to want it more than they do. Anything is possible in hockey, but it looks like it will be a very close weekend. We’ve played each other six times and there has only been more than one goal in it in one of those games”.
“It’s 50/50 as far as I’m concerned. We finished higher in the league, but Swindon were concentrating on the cups from February onwards and the gap between us reflects that. We have to ensure we keep it close in Swindon to bring the tie home in a position where we can win it. That doesn’t mean we are going there to sit back and try to kill the game off, but we do have to be smart against a team with lots of offensive experience. Everyone in our organisation wants to win a trophy this season and we know this is a huge weekend.”
Phantoms are remaining tight-lipped over whether Darius Pliskauskas will be playing any part over the weekend, simply saying that he is an “injury concern”.
Saturday’s game in Swindon will face off at 6:15pm and you can keep up with all the action as it happens in the Phantoms Live Lounge. Sunday’s second leg at Bretton will face-off at 5:30pm.