Jets Vs Lions Preview

This weekend sees the Nottingham Lions come to ‘The Hanger’ to face the mighty Jets. The Lions, as expected have made a strong start to their league campaign with four wins and one defeat against the unbeaten Whitley Warriors.

The Nottingham outfit are part of a trio of teams who are expected to challenge for the title this year, alongside Sheffield and Whitley Bay.

Nottingham has an outstanding record since the 07/08 season with only three teams managing victories against them; Whitley Bay three times, Sheffield twice, Billingham once. A further two teams have taken points off them with a draw, Coventry Blaze and the Jets in the 08/09 season.

It is fair to say the 5-5 draw in February ultimately cost the Lions back to back title wins as they finished the season level on points with Sheffield who had a better head to head record. At the time of the game the Lions were missing four players, who were representing Great Britain in the University games.

The off-season has seen the Lions lose James Neil, Robert Lachowicz and Joe Graham to Manchester Phoenix. Sam Bullas has joined Swindon Wildcats and Tom Norton has moved up to the Panthers EIHL side on a two way deal. Between them they accounted for 30% of the Lions goals last season and around 40% of Lions total points.

So are the Lions weaker than last season? Possibly, losing that many quality players would hurt any team. However they have started the season strongly despite the loss and Nottingham seem to have a never ending production line of talent coming up through the junior development system. Last season the Lions averaged 4.03 goals per game, through their six games this season have averaged 5.0 goals per game. Defensively in 08/09 the Lions kept the opposition down to an average of 2.17 goals per game, while this season the margin has been slightly higher at 2.66 goals per game.

The last six meetings between the two sides see the Jets record stand at 0-5-1. In that time the Jets have notched 14 goals to the Lions 30. Interestingly the Jets averaged 2.75 goals per game last year against the Lions, higher than the Lions 2.17 goals against per game.

The key to the game for the Jets will be a disciplined, defensive effort. As illustrated above, the Lions do not concede many so limiting their goal scoring chances will be vital. The Jets forwards put five up against Blackburn last weekend and hopefully they can carry their scoring form on in this one.

Editor’s prediction – Hoping the Jets can build on last week, I am going to go for a 4-4 draw.

J4L