Peterborough Phantoms face derby challenges after a mixed opening weekend

Phantoms followed a 6-5 home defeat to the Romford Raiders with a 4-3 on the road against the same opposition in a pair of keenly-contested challenge matches.

The city skaters now take on neighbours MK Lightning in two more challenge clashes away on Saturday (7pm) and at Planet Ice on Sunday before the National League Cup opener against Hull at home on Friday, September 16 (7.30pm).

"Last weekend was a good starting point for us,” Koulikov said. “It always takes a game or two for the guys to get their legs moving and get back into the swing of how we want to play and execute our game plans.

"There were some good points and not so good points, but that’s what pre-season is for - to iron out the bad points and make sure we’re ready for when the league starts.

"MK is always a hard game and they’ve strengthened again this summer, so we know we need to move up another level or two going into this weekend to give ourselves the best chance of winning.

"It was nice to be back in our rink and see all the fans again as they make such a difference when they’re being loud and I’m sure Sunday’s home game will have a really good atmosphere between two old rivals!”

Duncan Speirs (2), Lukas Sladkovsky and Callum Buglass scored for Phantoms in Romford. Sladkovsky, Buglass, Nathan Pollard, Glen Billing and Jasper Foster netted for the city side at Planet Ice.