Highlights - Dundee Stars 2 Sheffield Steelers 7: Semi-final spot within Steelers' grasp

Wednesday night’s 7-2 triumph at Dundee made it five wins out of five for Paul Thompson’s team over their hosts, with next Tuesday’s second leg at Sheffield Arena surely a formality in that winning run becoming six and extending Omar Pacha’s winless streak against the South Yorkshire club as a coach.

The Steelers enjoyed all the early pressure on Tayside but actually found themselves behind at 13.47 through Jordan Cowie’s powerplay strike. It wasn’t long, however, before the visitors were on the board when Colton Fretter levelled on the powerplay at 15.47.

Less than a minute later, another powerplay marker – this time from Andreas Valdix – put the Steelers ahead.

Ben O’Connor opened up a two-goal lead with a well-taken finish at 27.31, but Dundee rallied quickly and got themselves back tin contention when Taylor Dickin beat Ervins Mustukovs at 36.51.

But the game was put of sight for the beleagured hosts when the Steelers struck twice within five minutes of the restart.

Firstly, Matt Marquardt played provider for Davey Phillips to finish a chance in off the post to restore the two-goal advantage in the 44th minute before Levi Nelson made it 5-2 49 seconds later at 44.24 by firing over Travis Fullerton’s blocker.

Then it became a night to remember for Phillips when he grabbed his second of the night at 57.19, Marquardt adding his name to the scoresheet less than a minute later to complete a convincing victory.

Phillips fired in another one to open Sheffield’s lead to four as the minutes ticked down, with Marquardt getting in on the act with the seventh to complete a good first leg win for the Steelers.