The gap is down to seven points but Sunday's victory not only handed a point to the Bison but the OT victory will also not help our chances if it comes down to tie-breakers.
I've drawn up a wee graphic of both our and the Bison's fixtures until the end of the season. It's fairly self explanatory: the numbers down the side is the date of the game, the H column is home, A for away and the fixtures in grey are Cup games.
As you can see the Nottingham game returning to the original date of the 9th has helped unclog the final couple of weeks. Many fans have pointed to the amount of away fixtures we have towards the end of the season but the Bison have it just as bad, if not worse. The end of season game at Murrayfield will quite possibly be the big one but Basingstoke's tough Cov(A), Bel(A), Cov(H) schedule beforehand gives us an opportunity to take the edge leading in to the possible showdown.
The Hampshire club may have the advantage of two games in hand over us at the moment but we only have to play the big four clubs (Cov, Bel, She, Not) three times more whereas Basingstoke face them nine times. It's imperative that we gain ground on them in our fixtures against a mediocre Phoenix side (four times), an out of sorts Cardiff (x2) and the one team we've had little trouble with this season, Hull (x2).
A home win against an improving Vipers side on Sunday coupled with a Blaze backlash for the Bison could set us well on our way to qualification.
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