Petreborough Phantoms face a huge double header after receiving great praise from the head coach

Phantoms travel to Basingstoke tomorrow (January 25, 6.30pm) before welcoming the Bison to Bretton on Sunday (5.30pm).

The Hampshire side are a point behind Phantoms but boast three games in hand.

Phantoms moved back up to third last weekend when winning league games against Leeds and Sheffield just two days after winning a cup semi-final first leg in Hull.

Koulikov added: “We’re very close to each other in the table so it is a very important double-header this weekend.

“We’re going into it off the back of three wins in a row and the challenge for us is to try to continue building momentum.

“It has already been a really busy spell of hockey for the guys in a tough month.

“We have 11 games in total in January – including the two legs of the semi-final – and that puts a lot of strain on them. Virtually all of our guys have to fit hockey around their other jobs.

“I couldn’t ask any more of them and to come out of that little run with three wins is a really good achievement.

“We knew it wouldn’t be an easy weekend coming off the back of a Thursday night game, but we managed to get through it.

“We knew there might be more mistakes due to the amount of games we’ve had, but we stayed strong mentally and we showed our character in a great ending to the game.

“The way we closed the game out – and how our big players showed up when it was really tight - was absolutely amazing.”

Young forward Jarvis Hunt is a doubt for Phantoms after injuring a shoulder against Leeds last Saturday while Gareth O’Flaherty could return from concussion.