THE Basingstoke Bison will be looking at go into Christmas still on top of South One, after the stampeded to the summit for the first time this season, after beating the MK Thunder 1-0.

To do this they need to beat visiting local rivals the Bracknell Bees on Saturday night (6.30pm).

This will be the side’s first meeting in the league this campaign, but their fourth overall as they sides have already met four times in the National Cup, with the Herd winning three times.

When the Bees were last in Basingstoke, they were soundly stung 6-1, but they without their star import Frankie Bakrlik.

He is now back in the line-up, but they are still without top Brit Shaun Thompson and have lost their last nine games.

For Saturday’s game Josh Smith is back for the Bison after helping GB under-20s to a bronze medal at the World Championships.

Looking ahead to the Bison’s only game of the weekend, Bison head coach Doug Sheppard said: “Local derby games are always tough and they have beaten us already in our own building. They have a match winner in Frankie Bakrlik, so we have to make sure we close him down all game.”

On Boxing Day, the Bison are in National Cup action at Swindon and 24 hours later, they are at home to same opponents in the same competition.A game which starts at 7pm.