Coach demands better showing.

Rob Wilson has demanded a positive reaction from his players after what he called the worst weekend of his time as Vipers' player-coach.

The Newcastle side meet Belfast Giants home and away in the Elite League this weekend with the two sides in contrasting form. Whereas the champions have won three of their four league games this term (albeit only one has come in normal time), the Vipers were beaten 5-1 by Basingstoke Bison and 3-1 by Hull Stingrays last weekend.

Player-coach Wilson admitted the defeats hurt him and hopes his squad feel the same way.

The 38-year-old defenceman fumed: "To say I was disappointed is a massive understatement. The team exchanged some frank words after the (Hull) game on Sunday, and I'm sure there will be a positive reaction.

"These guys are professional players and it should be a matter of pride that things are put right this weekend."

The sides meet in Belfast tonight before tomorrow's return at Newcastle Arena, which faces off at 6.30pm. The two sides finished first and second in the last regular season, the Ulstermen coming out on top in their first five meetings until the Vipers finally broke the hoodoo in January with a 6-4 win on Tyneside.

They also came out on top in the play-off semi-final clash between the pair in Nottingham on their way to winning the competition.

Last weekend's showing was all the more disappointing for what went before. The Mobilx-sponsored club made an encouraging start to the new campaign with back-to-back home wins, a 10-4 cup victory against Hull and a 5-4 success over Sheffield Steelers.

And Wilson is demanding a return to the style which proved so successful in those matches.

"Our game is based around creating pressure, which creates turnovers which lead to scoring chances," he explained. "We did that perfectly on the opening weekend against Hull and particularly Sheffield. We can't go matching Belfast in a run-and-gun style, we don't have the players to do that. We have to outwork them and stick to our systems. If we aren't all on the same page then you get results like last weekend."

The Vipers Reserves are in English National League action away to Whitley Warriors.

Both sides have made a positive start to the ENL season, Whitley drawing 5-5 with Sheffield ENL Scimitars and triumphing 9-5 at Kingston Jets, while the Vipers beat Bradford Bulldogs 15-1 in their only game.