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Phantoms must plug the leaks
PHANTOMS need to learn their lesson if they are to lift the English Premier League KO Cup tonight.
PHANTOMS need to learn their lesson if they are to lift the English Premier League KO Cup tonight.The city side find themselves trailling 3-2 after the first leg of their final showdown against Milton Keynes Lightning on Tuesday night.
Now they head to Buckinghamshire tonight (8pm start) knowing their arch rivals are in pole position to get their hands on the silverware.
So, in a bid to turn the tie around and secure Phantoms' first trophy for four years, coach Phil David has taken his players back to 'D School' for a crash-course on how to shore up a defence that will be severely tested tonight.
The Canadian boss has turned his attention to defending after watching his side concede 19 goals while losing three of their last five games in all competitions - statistics which need to be turned round fast if Phantoms are to do justice to their talents.
David said: "Occasional mistakes I can handle, but there are certain problems which have been nagging away at us for a lot of the season. And now they have started to cost us in the past few weeks.
"Our defensive zone coverage as a team is not good enough and it has caused us to concede more goals than a team of our quality should have.
"We have been playing so well in other areas that we have been getting away with it, but it has to stop now or we will win nothing this season.
"And that would be a real shame because I have a great bunch of guys here with real talent who I think deserve some silverware.
"We had a really technical session with the guys last night where we worked on putting these things right once and for all. In fact they got a little cold out there as we were not doing too much skating!
"But I think we have ironed out a few of the problems and all the players seemed to understand the importance of the defensive systems we asked them to play."
One man not involved in that session was Latvian ace Maris Ziedins who will take no part in the action at MK's Planet Ice base tonight.
The former Olympian is not expected to be fully recovered from what the club describe as a 'lower-body injury' until Phantoms hit the play-off trail at Guildford on Saturday.
But despite being without one of his imports David is still hopeful of returning with a pot under his arm later today.
David added: "We always miss Maris but all teams have injuries and we just have to get on with it. At the end of the day we have enough good players to manage without him.
"Now is the time I expect the guys to step up to the plate when it really matters, being just 60 minutes from winning a trophy.
"Nothing was won in the first leg on Tuesday and it is all there for the taking tonight - and we want to be the ones that take it.
"We were not at our best at our rink but we like playing on the bigger ice surface in Milton Keynes. if we deliver the kind of 60-minute performance that we are capable of producing, we will take some stopping."
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Friday 10 February 2012
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