Everyone Active Raiders head coach Sean Easton believes they can go into back-to-back home fixtures with plenty of confidence this weekend.

Raiders welcome National League rivals Bristol and Leeds to Romford's Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre, having split their double-header with MK Lightning last weekend.

And Easton took plenty of encouragement from the performances of his understrength side in an 8-5 away defeat - where Lightning scored twice in the last 40 seconds to give the final scoreline a more flattering look - and a 3-2 home win the following night.

"We were missing key guys at the weekend, but as a team we really come together and played as one," said Easton, who was without his top two leading points scorers in Adam Laishram and Jake Sylvester.

"Our team defence was unreal, taking away the middle of the ice, stacking the net out to control net play and rebound control.

"We picked our times to attack well and when we did we committed in numbers and found a way to stay in the game Saturday and Sunday, scoring timely goals."

In-form Tjay Anderson maintained his recent scoring streak to cancel out former Raider Ben Solder's opener in Milton Keynes, only for the home side's Rory Herman and Ross Venus to beat Matt Smital either side of the first break to move 3-1 up.

Coy Prevost and Aaron Connolly then sandwiched a Venus powerplay goal to cut the gap to one after 40 minutes, with the captain moving up to ninth in the all-time scoring list above Matt Turner with his 289th point in a gold and blue jersey.

And although Lightning then went 6-3 ahead courtesy of Mack Stewart - son of Raiders legend Rob - and former Romford junior Toms Rutkis, replies from Anderson and Ashley Jackson kept Raiders in the hunt, before Lightning's late brace from Lewis Christie and Venus - into an empty net - completed the scoring.

Prevost opened the scoring on Sunday, early in the middle session, only for Rutkis to level with a shorthanded effort.

But Raiders regained the lead on the same powerplay through Brandon Ayliffe, who struck again towards the end of the period to put the hosts 3-1 up and take his career tally to 200 points.

A powerplay goal from Liam Stewart - son of rock music legend Rod - with just over eight minutes left on the clock gave the visitors hope, but Raiders held onto their lead, as Ethan James faced just 23 shots on the night.

The win kept Raiders in the last play-off spot in eighth ahead of the visits of basement boys Bristol on Saturday and table-topping Leeds the following night.

And they will be boosted by the return of Canadian import Laishram and leading British scorer Sylvester - who missed last weekend's action as they attended weddings.

"This weekend coming we welcome back Laishram and Sylvester," added Laishram.

"It's a must-win game against Bristol and if we can repeat our team defensive performance against MK against Leeds then who knows what we can achieve?"