Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox looking for home improvements in order to keep Elite League title hopes alive

Goals from Robert Dowd and Brendan Connolly were enough to secure a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at the Utilita Arena but, with two more home games on the horizon this weekend – against Nottingham Panthers and title rivals Guildford Flames – the Steelers’ head coach knows further improvement is needed from his players in front of their own fans.

The nervy win saw the Steelers move up to joint-second with Guildford, having played a game more. The pair are now five points off leaders Belfast Giants, but with only one more game to come against Adam Keefe’s side – who enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 win at Sheffield last Saturday – Fox knows help is going to be needed from elsewhere if he is to end the club’s wait for a first regular season crown since 2016.

"It’s positive that we got the two points, to be fair we have struggled in this building which shouldn’t be that way, it’s something we obviously need to sort out,” said a relieved Fox afterwards.

"I thought in the first 10 minutes of that game we could won 7-0 with how effective we were in the O-zone and connected as five, their goalie made a couple of huge saves and then the first chance we give up we turn the puck over below our own goal-line and and they score .

"Then the life got sucked out of our group a little bit. We’re a little fragile mentally right now and when things don’t go well and we feel like they should be going well, guys start trying to do a little bit too much. But we found our way again through the second period and I liked our game there.

"We only gave up 11 shots all night so we dug in defensively and that has been our saving grace this year – there have been plenty of nights where we perhaps didn’t have it offensively, when pucks weren’t going in but then we dig in on the defensive end.

"We’ve got to be better this Saturday in this building, our fans deserve it. That was something we talked about before the game is we don’t feel comfortable at home, we’ve got to find that road mentality, we’re the best road team in the league and that’s got to translate to this building as well.”

It was the visitors who took the lead with the only goal of the opening period when Philippe Sanche was left free to fire home from in front at 12.24 after a turnover behind the Steelers net.

The Steelers were finding it difficult to break the Stars down and frustration grew among the home crowd, but that was put to one side somewhat when Dowd eventually tied the game at 35.50, defenceman Sam Jones having an instant impact off the bench to find the GB forward’s stick for a tip-in from close range.

Dundee – who came into the game with their hopes of making the play-offs already hanging by a thread – were proving an obdurate group, until a boarding penalty taken by Carter Folk gave the hosts an opportunity to get their noses in front.

And they duly did, Connolly got the final touch on a scramble for a loose puck in front of the net at 52:36 and although Matt Greenfield had to be alert to deny Toms Rutkis shortly after, the Steelers saw the game out for what could still turn out to be a crucial two points.