Storm and Panthers looking for bounce back

Photo: Mark Ferris

Both Manchester and Nottingham go into Week 21 looking for a win to end their respective negative series.

Storm were beaten home and away by Coventry last weekend, and, although they did pick up a point on the road against the Blaze, it overshadowed their previous four-point weekend which ended a run of seven straight losses.

The Panthers were beaten in overtime at home to Glasgow live on Premier Sports before going down by the same score, again in the extra period, to Fife the following day. They have only one win in their last eight, although have picked up four points out of the last six.

In the standings, Storm are two points clear in the playoff places above Dundee but have played three games more. Nottingham's overtime points last weekend helped them stay clear in fourth, but they have fallen to 16 points behind the top three.

Both teams took a win each in cup games at the Storm Shelter, with Manchester blanking the Panthers 4-0 on New Year's Day in their first league meeting of the season. Nottingham's last league win in Manchester was in January 2020.