Sheffield Steeldogs face 'do-or-die' play-off weekend against Romford Raiders to keep NIHL National campaign alive

Having emerged from the opening weekend of games against Swindon Wildcats with nothing to show for their efforts - a 4-2 defeat in Wiltshire followed by a 4-3 reverse on home ice - the Steeldogs are targeting a maximum four-point haul from their double-header against Romford Raiders.

The Raiders visit Ice Sheffield tonight one point better off than their hosts having taken Milton Keynes Lightning to overtime last Saturday but this weekend’s two games essentially pits two sides against each other who cannot afford any more disappointments.

The Steeldogs’ cause is not helped by the fact they are without key personnel, Morgan himself ruled out for the foreseeable future having picked up a lower-body injury in warm-up ahead of the last regular season game almost two weeks ago.

It got even worse for the South Yorkshire team when captain and fellow defenceman Jonathan Kirk saw his season ended when he suffered an upper-body injury early on in the defeat at Swindon.

The odds may be against Sheffield, but Morgan and his players have not given up hope of making it to the Final Four Weekend in Coventry on April 19-20.

“It’s essentially a backs-to-the-wall job,” said Morgan. “It has to be, we’ve got to max out, plain and simple. We know the position we’re in - it is do or die.

how we do that.

“Ideally, we want to do it in regulation but we know the position we’re in, it’s a pressurised situation but with pressure comes privilege and we know what we have to do this weekend.”

During the regular season, the Steeldogs and Raiders were a good match for each other, Morgan’s team winning three of the five-game series, but both teams emerging with six points given two of those wins were in overtime.

“We’re confident going in, they have all been relatively close games against Romford,” added Morgan.

“But I expect a really tough weekend. They are one place and one point better off and so they know - and it’s the same for us - that if they can max out this weekend against us then they put themselves in a good position going into that final weekend.”