THE BASINGSTOKE Bison will be out to maintain their unbeaten home start to their English Premier League campaign when the Manchester Phoenix are the visitors on Saturday (6.30pm).

The Herd opened their campaign with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over local rivals Guildford Flames, but it ended up being a mixed weekend, as they then lost away at play-off champions the Peterborough Phantoms.

Bison head coach Doug Sheppard said: “We did really well against Guildford, but we made some mistakes in Peterborough which cost us dear. We need to tighten up defensively.”

Manchester will arrive in town after enjoying a great start to their campaign, beating Hull and Milton Keynes. They are joint leaders with Peterborough after the first weekend.

Manchester have four import forwards and have added Mark Thomas from the Sheffield Steelers to their home-grown defence.

Sheppard is expecting a tough game and said: “It is going to be tight against Manchester, but having home advantage, we have to make sure we win. This league is so competitive that the home games are even more important this season.”

A tough weekend continues for the Bison on Sunday night (6pm), when they travel to reigning league champions the Telford Tigers.

Looking ahead to their trip to Shropshire, Sheppard said: “Telford are the champions and have returned a lot of their guys. They are the bench mark and it will be a great test.”

There have been a number of changes to the British forwards in the Bison line-up this week.

The Herd have released teenage summer signing Ralfs Circenis, while adding Danny Ingoldsby and Ryan Sutton on two-way deals.

Teenager Circenis is expected to return to the National Hockey League.

Ingoldsby is no stranger to Bison fans as he was part of their double-winning side in 2013/14.

Sutton is a star forward with the Basingstoke Buffalo and impressed during the Bison’s pre-season campaign, scoring twice in the Herd’s victory over Guildford.