Lightning hope to star in Cats double bill

Back-to-back matches against Swindon Wildcats this weekend is an obstacle that a full strength Milton Keynes Lightning are confident they can overcome, according to team captain Adam Carr. Ryan Aldridge’s team has endured a mixed season so far but have won six of their last ten matches, compared with Lightning’s win rate of four from their last ten.  However the one thing the Wildcats have yet to achieve this season is beating Lightning. When the two sides last met on 30 December, it was Lightning’s first game in almost three weeks due to pre-Christmas cancellations because of bad weather.  However a 7-6 win over league high-fliers Basingstoke three days earlier meant Swindon had already shaken off their post-Christmas cobwebs when they travelled to Milton Keynes and they pushed Lightning all the way.  Despite Swindon scoring first, a Lukas Zatopek goal cancelled out the visitors’ lead and Andre Smulter’s strike three minutes into overtime sealed the win for the home side. Despite Lightning’s recent form not being as complete as Carr and his team-mates would have liked, Milton Keynes remain in a solid fifth place in the EPL, with four games in hand overall and their eyes firmly trained on the fourth spot currently occupied by Basingstoke Bison.  Some of Lightning’s recent games have also seen Nick Poole coaching from the bench, which skipper Carr feels can only be a benefit for the team.  “Having five import players means we can vary our line-up and Nick can take a step back occasionally to get the bigger picture, to see if there are any areas where we can potentially change things around to get the best results.  It’s all part of helping Lightning to improve as a team in the longer-term as well as the short term.  It also means our opposition will never know until the evening of a game which imports will be icing for us. “Swindon have had a decent run of form since Christmas – including beating Basingstoke, and taking Manchester to penalties.  So we know this weekend doesn’t guarantee us four points by any means - but the entire Lightning squad is fit, our supporters have backed us all the way even when results haven’t been what we’ve wanted, and fourth place in the league is still within reach.  The Wildcats haven’t beaten us so far this season and we intend to keep it that way!”