THE battle for third place in the English Premier League is set to be decided this weekend, with the Basingstoke Bison determined to keep hold of it as they face their nearest rivals, the Swindon Wildcats.

The Herd are on a revenge mission to the Wildcats’ home in Wiltshire this Saturday (6pm), having lost on home ice to Swindon last weekend.

It was a defeat that narrowed the gap between the sides to one point until Sunday night, when the Bison won at Bracknell and Swindon lost in Guildford.

Going into the penultimate weekend of the regular season, the Herd have a three-point advantage with three games left, while the ’Cats have four matches left in their campaign.

The big draw of finishing third in the table would be avoiding a likely match-up against league champions Telford Tigers in the semi-finals of the play-offs in Coventry over the Easter weekend.

Basingstoke Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard, pictured, said: “We dominated for long stretches of last week’s game against Swindon and were caught out with their odd man rushes, which we have to tighten up on this week.

“We want to finish as high as we can in the table and win the game, but it will not be easy with the dangerous players they have.”

Sheppard wants his side to finish their home league campaign on a winning note when they entertain the Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday night.

The game has a 5.30pm face-off and it will be the Herd’s last home game for a fortnight ahead of their home leg of the play-off quarter-finals on the last weekend of March.

The last two home games have seen the full house sign go up at the Basingstoke Arena.

The Herd suffered their first home defeat of 2015 last weekend at the hands of Swindon, so they will be keen to bounce back to winning ways and complete a clean sweep of home victories over MK.

The series between these sides is currently tied 2-2, with all the games being won by the home sides.

The Bison look set to be without British defencemen Matt Selby and Declan Balmer, as well as import forward Tomas Karpov.

The last three games between these sides have been one-goal games and another tight encounter is expected.

The Lightning are also still chasing sixth place, even though they are three points behind the Manchester Phoenix, with both having four games left to play.

Basingstoke Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard, pictured right, said: “I want us to get back to winning at home ahead of the play-offs, but I expect a tough game.”

Before the Bison face MK, they have a trip to the Link Centre to face the Swindon Wildcats on Saturday evening (6pm).

Former Swindon goalie Dean Skinns will be keen to get one over on his former teammates after they spoiled his big night last Saturday.

The Basingstoke-born shot stopper was looking for a victory to celebrate becoming the first Bison netminder to play 10,000 league minutes for the club, but it was not to be.

Skinns is sure to have another busy night in Swindon, especially with the likes of Jonas Hoog and Aaron Nell around.

Sheppard said: “It was great to see Deano (Skinns) achieve another milestone in his career and he has been a key player for us.

“Swindon are a team who are very dangerous on the transition because of players like Jonas Hoog and Aaron Nell.”

This weekend is also an important one for the Basingstoke Buffalo as they hope to extend their lead at the top of the South Two West table.

They face a double-header weekend against the Wightlink Tigers.

The first game is at home on Saturday and has a 6.30pm face-off.

The following night, the side will travel across the Solent hoping to tame the Tigers again.

Tickets for the Buffalo’s National Ice Hockey League Cup finals weekend on March 28 and 29 are now on sale online and can be purchased from the Bristol Pitbulls website.

A weekend pass for adults costs £12, while tickets for Saturday are priced at £10, with Sunday tickets costing £8. Tickets will cost more if bought on the day.

The Buffalo are in action in the first semi-final, taking on the Peterborough Islanders.

The second semi-final will see the Slough Jets face the Chelmsford Warriors.