WITH success comes greater expectations, something which has left Sheffield Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox to concede he is currently experiencing his lowest point at the club.

To some, that may seem an exaggeration but, in the aftermath of his team’s 4-2 Boxing Day defeat at home to Nottingham Panthers, Fox was clearly suffering.

Last month, the Steelers lost four straight games for the first time since February 2020, Fox’s first season in charge.

The defeat to Nottingham on Thursday marked a second time in as many months the Steelers have lost four on the trot.

Nothing is over at this stage of the season, not while the Steelers go into today’s renewal against the Panthers at the National Ice Centre with 33 games of their regular season remaining.

They are currently languishing sixth in the standings and 10 points off leaders Cardiff Devils. There is time to correct this unsteady ship’s course, but that will soon sink if the gap widens much further through the remainder of the festive period.

Fox retains belief in a roster that contains many of the players that brought grand slam success last season. The trick is to find a way to restore that same belief inside his players.

“I’ve been here six years now and not everything has been perfect over those six years, obviously,” said Fox. “We broke through last year and won everything we could but, in terms of maybe a low point, this might be as low as I’ve felt.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT: Sheffield Steelers' Mitchell Balmas comes under pressure from Nottingham Panthers' Kristoff Kontos during the hosts' 4-2 Boxing Day defeat at the Utilita Arena. Picture: Dean Woolley.

“And I think that’s probably because I’ve seen what this group is capable of, so those expectations for me are quite high and when you lose games the way we’ve lost games recently, it sucks you dry at times.

“At the end of the day it is a group of 20 or so guys that need to play the right way and play with an honest answer in their game and I don’t feel like we’ve got that through our group right now.

Is there some complacency with guys that won it all last year that have come back? I don’t think so. I have a ton of respect for the character of those guys that came back but confidence is king in sport

“I’ve seen it at NHL level, football … when things aren’t going well for teams, even good teams, it’s hard to dig yourself out of that hole at times.

“I’ve got belief in this group. We haven’t got a bounce or any puck luck at all recently, but sometimes you’ve got to create your own luck in those situations and just play perfect hockey and I think that’s what we need to bust ourselves out of this.”

Sheffield Steelers boss hits 'low' point but still time to turn Elite League season around