Aldridge braced for fighter Jets (From Swindon Advertiser)

Aldridge braced for fighter Jets

7:30am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Local By Andy Warren

RYAN Aldridge knows his Swindon Wildcats players will feel the force of a wounded Slough Jets side when the two teams meet at the Link Centre tonight (face-off 7.45pm).

While Wildcats ended a six game losing streak with a 7-5 victory over Basingstoke Bison on Saturday night, the Jets suffered a shock 9-2 home defeat to Sheffield Steeldogs, and head coach Aldridge is expecting an instant backlash.

“I was surprised to see that result but it can happen,” Aldridge told the Advertiser. “I doubt Gregg Rockman (Jets netminder) concedes nine goals too often, so I am sure he will have a stormer in our building. They will be looking to get back on track with a win because they are challenging at the top of the table, and they are there for a reason so we know we will be in for a very tough game.”

Aldridge was pleased to see his side get back to winning ways against the Bison, but is now urging his players to put together a run of wins.

“We need to find some consistency and now is the time to do it. We had a great win against Bison and that has given us some confidence, but we need to carry on.

“We do have a tough run of games coming up in the next few weeks where we play difficult teams nearly every night, but we want to get a run going. We seem to play better against the top sides so hopefully it will be the same tonight.”

Wildcats have a good record against Slough so far this season, recording a 3-0 away victory at the start of November before winning 4-2 at the Link Centre the following month, and Aldridge is hoping it will continue tonight.

“We have shown what we are capable of already by beating Slough home and away, and we need to do it again because these are points we need to be taking,” he said. “When we have lost to them we have played quite well so we are full of confidence.

“We need to try and get in behind them and move them around a bit, and if we can do that I think we can win.”

A major power failure closed the Link Centre yesterday which was also expected to keep the centre closed today, but the Advertiser understands a generator will be in place to allow Wildcats’ game to go ahead.