Hull Seahawks coach Matty Davies hopeful of Dave Phillips returning to action

The veteran blue liner was a marquee signing for the Seahawks last summer when making the switch to the second tier after 17 seasons in the Elite League.

But the 37-year-old has not played since January 18 as the result of sustaining an upper-body injury.

There was a fear among some that he may not play again this season but, on Sunday, was spotted taking part in the warm-up ahead of the Seahawks clash at home to Solway Sharks.

Phillips did not play in the game itself but is expected to take part in a full week of training with the hope being he may return at some point this weekend - when the Seahawks take on Peterborough Phantoms in a double-header.

Fellow defenceman Thomas Stubley is another Davies hopes to see back in action soon, along with forward Declan Jones, while a number of other players - including top points-scorer Owen Sobchak - are playing through injuries at the moment.

It has made for a trying few weeks for the Seahawks, although head coach Davies eyes light at the end of the tunnel as he looks for his team to get back to something resembling full strength in order to make a deep play-off run.

“Both Dave (Phillips) and Dec (Jones) will be fine for next week, fingers crossed,” said Davies in his post-match interview after a 6-5 shootout win against Solway.

“Dave we’ve been managing him back into it and doing the warming-up (on Sunday) was sort of the first part of that. Then he’ll have a full week of training and then hopefully he’ll be playing next week.

“And Sobsy is just battling it right now and it’s tough. He is struggling, there’s a few of them that are and you can see that.

“It’s tough to keep going to the well every single time and in an ideal world over these next couple of weeks, you’d like to spread the minutes and give people a rest but you get into games and you still want to win.

“We’re in a good spot and I think we’ve got the right team and I think we can go deep in the playoffs. On a positive note, we’re going to be tough to beat because we’re never out of it.

“At the minute, it’s about character in the room and the lads are playing for the shirt and each other which is all I can ask for.”