Campbell happy to upset former club Steelers

The 31-year-old winger – who won the regular season championship last year with the Steelers – believes his current team are capable of causing a major upset over two legs in the first round of the post-season.

The two sides meet in the first leg at Hull Arena (7pm) on Saturday night, with the return at Ice Sheffield 24 hours later. Less than two weeks ago, Hull won 4-3 against a demoralised Steelers team who had arrived in East Yorkshire fresh from two defeats in Belfast that had seen the end of their regular season title challenge.

Campbell believes Hull have what it takes to repeat that success and has set his sights on a third successive appearance at the play-off finals weekend in Nottingham, having lost out at the semi-final stages with Coventry Blaze and then the Steelers in the last two years.

“I honestly think we’ve got as good a chance as anyone of making it to Nottingham next week,” said Campbell, who has proved a hit with the Stingrays’ fans after posting 55 points, including 12 goals, this season – his best points haul since 2007-08 when playing for Newcastle Vipers.

“I don’t see why we can’t beat Sheffield – we managed it two weeks ago. Those guys might have just lost the league when they came to our place last time, but you could tell they were still up for it – and they still had two imports sitting in the stands.

“They are the ones who have got something to prove. They will not want to lose to a team like us, but there’s no way we’ll be backing down.

“If they lose out to us that will make it a nightmare season for them because they are expected to win trophies every year. That alone brings pressure and sometimes that can be a negative thing.”

The decision by Steelers to sack popular forward Colt King earlier this week by coach Ryan Finnerty hasn’t gone unnoticed on Humberside, although Campbell admits it remains to be seen what kind of effect the surprise move will have on the Steelers dressing room.

“There’s obviously something happened with King over in Sheffield and it will have shaken a few things up,” added Campbell.

“It’s difficult to tell whether it will have a positive or negative effect on the rest of the Sheffield team – it depends how the other players feel about the way he’s been treated.

“If they are behind the decision then it could have a galvanising effect on their room and bring them together more. If not, it could work in our favour.”

Campbell said Hull must take some kind of a lead into the second leg (6pm).

“We don’t want to go into the second game having given away home advantage the night before,” he said.

“We need to take a positive result to their place. If we do that, anything is possible. With the second game being at ice Sheffield, that might also work in our favour because it’s not their natural home ice.

“We need to generate a great atmosphere at our place – it’s always great playing in front of a packed arena because, as a player, you want to prove yourself on the big occasions. Ultimately, we all want to make it to Nottingham and we believe that we can.”

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