TWO away games last weekend, two points gained to keep us in touch with Manchester and Guildford at the top of the league.

But we were out-worked by our opponents and it was a timely reminder that we’ve got to get back to how we started the season, putting in 60 minutes of high-energy, collective effort.

We have built a reputation as the hardest working team in the league. That’s how to make best use of our offensive depth.

We needed a hat-trick from Joe Miller in Swindon to relieve the pressure our hosts exerted so that we could come away with a win.

Despite the unsettling changes happening at Slough, they out-worked and out-played us with a gritty team perfor-mance on Sunday and deserved their win.

Time to move on, with some important fixtures to look forward to at home and on the road over the holiday period.

We welcome Zach Sullivan and Stuart Mogg back from international duty this weekend and the fans will, I am sure, be giving our new signing, Ciaran Long, a big welcome.

Ciaran will add even more punch to our offence, while Zach has a wise hockey head on his young shoulders and his return will strengthen our defence.

The only teams to have beaten us on home ice this season are Guildford, Swindon and this weekend’s opponents, Bracknell.

Where and when better to get back on track than in front of our own fans this weekend?

Local derbies always attract large crowds.

We hope we can put our fans in the proper Christmas mood and extend our run of four unbeaten home wins.

See you Saturday.

Doug