SATURDAY will be a special night for the Basingstoke Bison fans as the treble winners will raise their winning banner from last year’s campaign.

Saturday will also see the Herd start the defence of their league crown with a visit from the Raiders from Romford.

The visitors include two of last season’s championship winning Bison players captain Aaron Connolly and Dan Scott.

The game starts at 6.30pm and Bison forward Liam Morris will back after completing his three match ban.

Saturday’s visitors finished fourth last season and have started this campaign with three wins out of four.

Looking ahead to the league opener Bison player/coach Ashley Tait said: “It is a special night with the banner raising and we want to start the league with a win and will be working hard in practice this week to make it happen."

On Sunday night (5.15pm), the Herd travel to Gillingham for another league clash against the Invicta Dynamos, who are currently winless this season.

However, Tait is taken nothing for granted and said: “Early results count for nothing. We have to go there and look to get some points."