SWINDON WILDCATS: Cats crave elusive victory over Bison
6:00am Friday 10th February 2012 in Sport By Andy Warren
SWINDON Wildcats will be hoping a group therapy session will help them overcome Basingstoke Bison in a game where head coach Ryan Aldridge has challenged his players to ‘show up or shut up’.
Wildcats have lost all five of their encounters with Bison so far this season, including a 5-4 away defeat last Saturday, forcing Aldridge to have an honest and open discussion with his team in a bid to end a run of six straight English Premier League defeats at the Link Centre tomorrow night (face-off 5.45pm).
“We have got to beat Basingstoke at least once this season, and now this is the only chance we have left to do it, so we need to take it,” Aldridge told the Advertiser.
“We have had a good chat with the players in a group as well as on an individual basis, and it was very open and honest. We told the players what is expected and told them it is time to show up or shut up.
“They seemed to respond well and accepted that it needed to be done, and since then we have had some good practice.”
Wildcat’s bad run has seen both Bracknell and Peterborough close the gap on them in the table, but Aldridge is not worried about losing out on a place in the play-offs.
“Obviously our poor form in concerning because we have been without a win for a little while, but I have no doubt in my mind we will reach the play-offs.
“Compared to the two teams below us (Bracknell and Peterborough) we have a slightly easier run of games between now and the end of the season, so it is in our hands and I just know we will get there.
“Our first game is against Bison and they have some big forwards who cause us problems in the corners, but they play on an Olympic-sized rink, and I don’t think they will find it as easy in our building.”
Wildcats will make late decisions on whether to include Nicky Watt, Joe Baird and Tom Murdy who are all on the way back from injury, but Nick Compton will definitely miss out with concussion.
