BRACKNELL Bees head coach Gareth Cox believes his team will be tough to beat if they can build on their positive showings in recent weeks.

The Bees have been in decent form lately, taking nine points from the last 12 on offer in the English Premier Ice Hockey League.

Last weekend they beat both leaders Guildford Flames and Slough Jets to move into a three-way tie for fifth place.

They could make that spot their own in the coming days, if they can get results at Manchester Phoenix on Saturday (7pm face/off) or at The Hive against Phoenix on Sunday (6pm f/o).

And Cox insists they are more than capable of mixing it with the best in the league.

“Manchester are up there in the table so the performance has to come first, then hopefully the results will follow,” he said.

“It’s all about consistency, we need to reach the level we played at this weekend, if we can do that then we’re not going to lose many games.

“We have to go into the weekend with no fear, respect what they can do and make sure our performance is right up there. As long as we can continue then that’s the main thing.” Bees proved just how dangerous they can be when they are on top of their game with impressive wins over Guildford and Slough last weekend.

Flames had won seven straight matches before they were outplayed and outshot by Bracknell on Saturday evening.

And Cox’s men put in an even more dominant display the following night as they swept Jets aside with relative ease.

“We believe we’re improving with every game,” said Cox. “We were fantastic for 60 minutes against Guildford.

“We dominated large parts of the game, which not many teams do there, we got the breaks in the end and got the goals which we needed.

“Against Slough we were awesome in the first period and we didn’t hold on, we wanted to keep going. We got into some penalty trouble but got the two points.

“We’re improving with every performance, we’ve put in over the past five or six games and that has to continue now. We get to Christmas and then we reassess everything, and go again from there.” Cox also defended Chris Wiggins after he was given a five-plus game penalty for fighting with Slough’s Ciaran Long on Sunday.

“The five minutes was harsh, I thought two plus two maybe,” he said.

“He’s there to do a job, part of his that is looking after the players. When there is a bad hit on one of our import d-men he has to do his job and he did it perfectly.” l BRACKNELL Ice Hockey Club’s Beesties are seeking sponsorship to help further develop their players.

The Beesties are an Under 12 team who play in the Southern Division of the National U12 Ice Hockey League.

They play matches across the south of England and are looking for sponsors to help cover rink costs, travelling and safety equipment.

Contact Peter Grace on 07748 116476 or peter.grace@accenture.com for more information.