English Premiership and Kyle Lightbourne ponders his very future, David Bascome is revelling in a championship quest.

Harrisburg Heat commence their play-off run at the National Professional Soccer League crown against Philadelphia KiXX tomorrow among the home confines of the Farm Show Arena.

And while Bascome is likely to miss the match as he recovers from a leg injury suffered eight days ago, it is anticipated that the forward will be back in the line-up for the second game of the best-of-three series when the venue switches to Philadelphia.

Injury or not, Bascome was touting his side's chances of securing a first ever title for the newly crowned American Conference champions, something which would be fitting with 2001 marking the franchise's 10th anniversary.

"We're going to win, yes, I'll put my mouth on it,'' said Bascome. "I want to win ... we all want to win, and we have to be positive.

"Even if we do come short at least I can say that I was confident and positive. We've got a good group of players, and I think that we've gained a lot of respect in the league.'' Of course, Bascome was mindful of the fact that his absence from the line-up marked a serious loss in the scoring department, with the Bermudian's 128 points sixth best in the league.

Still, the 10th year player had every confidence there was talent on the bench to take up the slack.

Head coach Richard Chinapoo, a former star with the Baltimore Blast, also expressed optimism in the team rising to the challenge, noting how they had displayed a resilience all year long in the face of adversity. Injuries and poor play combined to slow the Pennsylvania team's charge from the gate, but a concerted team effort conspired to produce a strong second half.

"We've been dealing with things all season. We don't look at them as problems, we look at them as challenges,'' said Chinapoo following the season ending match against his former team. "David has played in every game this season, he's been professional on and off the field, and I know how he's going to approach this little setback.'' "But even if David can't play that's one game, we know that David will be ready for the games after that. We have some other people coming back from injury, so we'll sort things out as far as who we play against, how we match up and start working on systems and how we want to work to our strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

"What we've done this season we've done as a team. What we've established within ourselves is a sense of wanting to win, a sense of teamwork, a sense of sacrifice.

Co-owner Rodney Rumberger did not mince his words when asked of the chance of a Heat title, telling this reporter: "You're invited to come back on May 8 and help me carry the championship trophy around ... we're going to win it all this year.''