Hull Seahawks v Sheffield Steeldogs: Struggling Steeldogs striving to rein in NIHL National play-off rivals

Eight teams qualify for the post-season and as they prepare for a weekend incorporating games against Hull Seahawks and bottom club Bristol Pitbulls, the Steeldogs are on the outside looking in on those positions.

They currently lie 10th, seventh points adrift of Bees IHC, who occupy the eighth and final play-off spot and who dealt a significant blow to the Steeldogs’ hopes when taking four points off them last weekend.

Steve Weeks’ team picked up a point in a 4-3 overtime defeat at home to their rivals, but they needed more.

Mathematically, with 16 games remaining, anything is obviously possible, but the Steeldogs’ run-in appears daunting, with half of their scheduled games against the current top four.

“This past weekend has hurt us, the Bees are one of the teams we are chasing, so for them to get four points and us just the one, that hurts a lot,” said Phillips, inset.

“There are still a lot of games left, quite a few against the top end of the table, so we need to pull some magic out somewhere.

“But while it is mathematically possible, we have to believe as a group and we will give the best that we have got.”

Phillips admitted it was imperative that the Steeldogs didn’t lose any further ground this weekend.

“We’ve just got to see what points we can pick up,” he added. “If we concentrate on our performances then the results will start to fall in with that.

“We’ve got to concentrate on the performance, rather than thinking too much about the results. We’ve just got to break it down to each single shift.

“It’s going to be tough in Hull, they are a team in form, but we won on a previous visit there and we’re going to have to produce something similar in terms of performance if we are to get anything there this weekend.

“What we’ve struggled with all season is to put a consistent 60 minutes together. We really have to just take it period by period, shift by shift and those 60-minute performances will come.”

A win for Hull will see them extend their winning streak to 10 games, one that includes their two-leg National Cup semi-final triumph over league leaders, Leeds Knights.

Matty Davies’s side – buoyed by news of forward Bobby Chamberlain’s extended deal earlier in the week – round out their weekend with a visit to Raiders on Sunday.