Russell 'we have the battling spirit'

Slough Jets coach Pete Russell says his team’s displays against Milton Keynes and Swindon last weekend show they have the bottle to go the distance in the EPL title race.

The Jets came from behind on Saturday to win 4-2 at league leaders Milton Keynes Lightning before seeing off Swindon Wildcats 3-2 at the Hanger 24 hours later despite an under-par performance.

The four point weekend has moved Slough up to second in the table, just two points behind  the Lightning who have played a game more.

Pete Russell’s men have now won seven games on the bounce and the coach insists his side will continue to fight all the way to the finish.

He said: “It was a great weekend for us and it proved we’ve got the battling spirit in this squad that you need to win things.

“You can buy all the imports in the world, spend all the money you want, but you must have togetherness and a battling quality if you want to achieve anything - and we’ve got that in abundance.

“Good teams scrape results out even if they’re not playing top level hockey and we did that at the weekend.

“The boys have been fantastic and we will continue to fight for everything until the end of the season.”

With just three points separating the top four teams in the EPL this season’s campaign is shaping up to have a thrilling climax.

But Russell believes the likes of Basingstoke and Sheffield still have a chance despite both being over 10 points behind the leaders.

He said: “To be honest I don’t think anyone is out of it.

“The league is so strong this year that everyone has a chance, you can’t afford to relax against anyone.

For the rest of this story see this week's Express.