THE Basingstoke Bison will start the defence of their English Premier League play-off crown with a double header weekend against the Manchester Phoenix – the side they beat in Coventry to win last season’s trophy.

The Herd will be looking to make it to their third consecutive play-off finals, but they face a tough challenge against last season’s league champions in the quarter-finals.

The first leg of the two-game series is at Altrincham on Saturday night (7pm), with the return in Basingstoke on Sunday evening (5.30pm).

If the results between these sides are anything to go by this season, penalty shots look set to decide who will face the winners of the Guildford against Milton Keynes tie in the second semi-final on Easter Saturday.

The Herd won all three home league meetings by a single goal. But they have lost all three games in Altrincham, the last two after a penalty shoot-out.

However, the first game between the sides in the north west saw Manchester win 8-3, something the Herd will need to avoid happening again.

Michael Psurny helped himself to a hat-trick in this big victory, but the Czech forward looks set to miss this weekend, while the Bison will be without Tomas Karpov.

However, the Herd are hoping to have British defenceman Declan Balmer back from injury.

If there is no Psurny in the Phoenix line-up, the big threats to the Bison will be Frankie Bakrlik, Robin Kovar and ace playmaker Tony Hand.

Hand, a legend of the game, is set to retire at the end of the season.

Looking ahead to the quarter-final tie, Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard said: “It just goes to show how good this league is that we have to face Manchester in the play-offs even when we finished third.

“We have matched up well against them during the year and our first focus is making sure we are still in with a chance of winning the tie after the first game.”

Sheppard added: “We are in good form coming into the game and I think this will be our hardest game of the play-offs.

“Everyone in the dressing room wants to get to Coventry and defend our crown.”