THE Basingstoke Bison have appealed against forward Michal Klejna’s match penalty that he received at Telford last Sunday.

The Slovak sniper was dismissed in the final session of the game for spearing and if the penalty stands it carries a tariff of a three game ban.

However, the Herd have the video evident of the incident and Bison player/coach Ashley Tait said: “I have looked at the footage and there is no spearing, so we will be appealing against the penalty.

“I am hoping that once the powers at be have seen this, he will be in our the line-up this weekend, as we don’t want to be without one of our best players.”

The loss of one of the Herd’s two imports for three games, will have big impact on the team, as they would been minus one of their top sharp shooters and also they would have to reshuffle their forward lines.

This weekend, the reigning league champions will be looking to maintain their perfect start to the defence of their title.

First up on Saturday (6.30pm) they will hoped not to be spooked by the Peterborough Phantoms and the following evening (5.30pm) they are in Romford to face the Raiders.

The Herd lost to Peterborough in pre-season, but beat the Raiders in their league opener and looking ahead to the weekend Tait said: “We lost to Peterborough in pre-season because we took too many penalties, so we need to cut them out.

“We know it is going to be tough against the Raiders, playing in their building.”

Defenceman Chris Cooke, who missed both Telford games is still a doubt for this weekend’s encounters.