PLAYING three matches in as many days is asking a great deal of any team, writes Dave Wright.

And when it happens two weeks in succession it becomes an even tougher test of stamina.

So Bracknell Bees deserve the utmost praise and admiration after having their fitness and commitment pushed to the extreme limit.

Okay, they did lose all six matches, but they gave their all every second of the way, right through to the final buzzer.

Their marathon run ended on Sunday with a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Telford Tigers at The Hive.

It came just 24 hours after a late and long return trip from Hull Pirates, where they were defeated 6-3.

On Friday they had gone down 7-3 away to Guildford Flames.

Those at the England Premier Ice Hockey who arrange the fixture list clearly don’t appear to have much thought about the considerable amount of time the players, team officials and supporters have to spend travelling – not forgetting the expenditure.

Yet despite the defeats, there were no complaints from the fans about their side’s performances.

They realise that the Bees have seen their squad depleted by departures and injuries at a time when the club are encountering financial problems.

Chairman Andrew Cross has highlighted the “very difficult” challenges the club are currently facing.

He said: “Everyone is working daily to tackle what at times seems an insurmountable challenge as each week goes by we all gain confidence and motivation from those going the extra mile, on and off the ice.”

And, in his match programme notes, Cross added: “This ‘stickatitability’ from everyone is the defining quality of the individuals who play and work for the club.

“We have played half of our league fixtures and a play-off place is still achievable.”

But if Bees are to climb out of the bottom two places in the league and reach the top eight then they will need to start winning a few games.

Bracknell find themselves at the bottom of the table, having swapped places with fellow strugglers Hull.

Bees have 16 points from 32 fixtures, with Hull (18 points from 31) and Manchester (25 from 29) the two sides immediately above them.

Their last victory came against Swindon on November 22 and since then they have suffered 15 consecutive defeats.

Hopes of halting the run were raised when they led Hull 3-2 at the end of the second period following a brace from Milan Kostourek and an Alex Barker effort, but Bees then ran out of steam and conceded four goals in the last 20 minutes.

In contrast, the last period on Friday had gone 3-1 in Bracknell’s favour, but the damage had already been done earlier and they were beaten 7-3.

The Bees' scorers were Vanya Antonov, Jan Bendik and Carl Thompson.

Their goals against column continued to stack up in Sunday’s game with sixth-placed Telford taking less than three minutes to open the scoring.

Barker brought the scores level just after the 14-minute mark, but two minutes later Bees found themselves trailing again and it needed some excellent saves by net-minder Alex Mettam to keep the scores close in the opening period.

The visitors moved the puck around more fluently than their hosts to keep the Bees defence stretched.

Barker, again, and Kostourek gave the Bees' fans two goals to cheer in the second period, but there were another three from the Tigers to give them a 5-3 lead.

Chances of reducing their deficit improved in the final period when Telford were reduced to five players and then four for a short period with both Martin Ondrej and then Blahoslav Novak being sent to the sin-bin for two minutes each.

However, the tiring Bees were unable to take advantage and managed just the one goal, which saw Barker complete his hat-trick.

It was the second time this season they have conceded six goals to Telford at home, although on the previous occasion they managed only one goal in reply.

Not surprisingly, Barker was voted Bees’ man of the match, with Mettam running him the closest for the award.

With player-coach Lukas Smital already ruled out with a broken finger, he was joined on the injury list by Josh Tetlow who damaged his wrist during the second period and went straight from the game to hospital for a check up.

After two weekends of three games, Bees have it a little easier this week with just two fixtures.

They are away to Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday (7pm), followed by Guildford Flames at The Hive on Sunday (6pm).