THIS weekend the Chelmsford Chieftains could clinch their first silverware of the season.
Gary Clarke's side play the two-legged final of the South East Trophy against Wightlink Raiders.
They travel to the Isle of Wight today before the teams go head-to-head at the Riverside the following day.
And Clarke is pleased the first leg is on the island after they topped their group.
"It's an advantage for me to be playing the second game at home," he said. "It's good to know what we have to do at home."
Although it's not considered the most important cup of the season Clarke is more than keen to add it to last season's play-off triumph.
He said: "The fact of the matter is that there are only four pieces of silverware to go for each season and this could be a stepping stone for us to go on to better things."
The player/ coach is wary though of today's fixture which takes place on the smallest rink in the division.
"We went there and lost 1-0 in the league recently," he said. "It's a completely different game, it's like pinball with the puck bouncing and going everywhere.
"We've won two cup games on the island this season so we know what we're up against and there are no excuses."
Forward Tom Castle is rated at 50/50 after suffering a concussion at the weekend while netminder Ryan Bainborough is still two to three weeks away from recovering from a fractured hand.
Back-to-back wins at the weekend moved Chelmsford level on points the Romford Raiders at the top of the English National Hockey League South One table.
A 5-1 demolition on Saturday night in Berkshire could and should have been a 5-0 whitewash but thanks to some questionable officiating the Chieftains were shorthanded and Ben Clements missed out on his chance of a shutout with a late goal from the home side.
Earlier in the game Danny Hammond had opened the scoring early on before a Clarke hat-trick and a Julius Sinkovic marker had the Essex side 5-0 ahead at one stage. Clarke rightly picked up the man-of-the-match award.
On Sunday night and it was a similar tale as the Chieftains ran in seven goals with just one in reply from former Chieftains favourite Jakub Klima late on to again stop a clean sheet from Clements.
This time the goals came from a pair from Hammond and Tibor Schneider and single goals from James Ayling, Grant Bartlett and Michael Ranby.
Ayling had an exceptional night and took home the man of the match award, while Klima took home the beers for a lacklustre Redskins team.
