Bristol Pitbulls coach Richie Hargreaves admits the first season of ice hockey in the city for more than 20 years could hardly have gone any better.

The Pitbulls are regularly attracting crowds of 250-300 to their games at the John Nike Bristol Ice Rink in Frogmore Street.

And the team is pushing hard for promotion in the English National Hockey League. This evening they face a derby at home to Swindon Wildcats (5.55pm) with the chance to go up to third place in League South Two.

The Pitbulls are unbeaten in the league and have lost just twice in 18 games this term.

"The good thing is we have been doing well on the ice as well as off it and people love to back a winning horse," said Hargreaves, who also plays for the team and is the league's top points scorer.

Local sponsors have also supported the team well enough to ensure Pitbulls are on a sound financial footing, meaning the future looks bright for ice hockey in Bristol.

"We do a lot of work in the community and we interact with the fans during games and I think the families appreciate that," said Hargreaves.

Now the player-coach can target promotion. Both the Pitbulls, who are fourth, and the Wildcats (third) have at least two games in hand on the leading sides.

The Divisional champions are promoted while the second-placed side goes into a play-off with the second bottom team from League One.

"We have games in hand because we have played a lot of cup games," said Hargreaves. "We have seven or eight guys in the top 10 scorers in the league so it has gone really well for us."

Doors open at 5.20pm tonight and the Pitbulls are also in action when they make the long trip to Chelmsford tomorrow (5.15pm).