Osman happy to be held accountable for Stingrays

A promising start has been eroded for the East Yorkshire club in recent weeks, their last success coming in a 6-3 home win over Edinburgh on September 22.

Bottom of the overall Elite League standings, the goals have also dried up for Sylvain Cloutier’s side, netting only three in their last four games compared to 32 in their first eight matches.

Osman, now in his second season in Hull, has six goals and two assists to his name in 12 apperances, but is the first to admit he is among those more experienced players who need to stand up and be counted, beginning with Saturday night’s league clash at home to the Dundee Stars – a conference rival who boast a 100 per cent record against them after three previous meetings.

“I’m not going to put undue pressure on myself but I am going to hold myself accountable and make sure I’m doing everything I can to turn things around,” said the 30-year-old American.

“It has dried up a little in terms of the goals, but the chances haven’t which is what matters. I’ve hit the post three times in the last four games, so you are only talking about a few millmetres.

“You could say we’ve been unlucky but you do make your own luck and we’re going to have to score more than the odd goal if we want to win games.”

Osman, who finished his first season with Hull impressively with 27 goals and 14 assists in 56 games, said he was confident the Stingrays’ locker room was strong enough to come through their current bad patch.

“Every team – whether they are Stanley Cup winners or whatever – goes through adversity at some point,” added Osman. “But we are strong enough to get through it. Everybody in the room believes we can – that is what counts.

“This is a big game against Dundee. Being at home will be a big advantage, particularly with our fans. it’s about time we took a win from these guys.”

Sunday sees Hull return to the scene of their greatest triumph, as they head to South Yorkshire to take on Sheffield Steelers in the Challenge Cup.

It’s not the first meeting between the two this season – the Steelers won the first Group B meeting between the two in Hull 6-3 last month – but it’s the Ice Sheffield venue which will bring back fond memories for Osman, his team-mates and the club’s fans. It was there where they defeated the hosts 5-2 to complete a stunning 7-4 aggregate play-off quarter-final victory.

“It’s going to be tough, it always is against Sheffield,” said Osman. “The best thing I remember is that we had about 100 fans there that night, but they were the only ones I could hear all night.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @PHarrisonYP