LAST weekend we lost both our games in the opening weekend of the English Premier League season.

This is the first time it has happened to us in the EPL.

You need to go back to 2008 when we were in the Elite League for the last occasion in club history when we suffered a pointless weekend at the start of a league campaign.

That reminded us why achieving back-to-back titles has proved so difficult in the history of the league.

It has only been achieved once.

Of course, we had talked about this and were aware of the challenge ahead of us to retain our title but losing to Telford Tigers at home 4-1 and Hull Pirates away was a painful reality check.

We didn’t expect it and our fans who crowded into the rink on Saturday certainly hoped to see us continue the winning form we had shown in the pre-season games.

As always, they have been generous in their support, pointing out it is only the first two of 54 games.

But we know we didn’t show the grit needed to secure wins.

Chances to score need to be put away and we shouldn’t be giving up four goals in each of two games.

There is a big difference between pre-season matches and league fixtures.

We knew that, we talked about it, but we let ourselves and the fans down at the weekend by the way we played.

So we need to show this coming weekend that we’ve learned our lesson.

Local derby games are always hard fought and the Bracknell Bees has worked hard to remain competitive after a difficult year off ice.

Then we travel up to Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday to face a team aiming for a top four placing.

We look forward to your support this weekend.