Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox singles out key trio for their 'contagious; effort

AND STAY DOWN: Sheffield Steelers' Jonathan Phillips tries to make a nuisance of himself in front of the Glasgow Clan net during Thursday night's 3-0 win. Picture courtesy of Al Goold (www.algooldphoto.com)/EIHL

He was clearly right to. Two weeks on from that 3-1 defeat – which drew stinging criticism online from a small section of the Steelers’ fanbase – Fox has seen his team record four straight victories, all of them relatively comfortable.

The latest came in a polished performance north of the border when they disposed of hosts Glasgow Clan 3-0, a result – courtesy of goals from Brandon Whistle, Scott Allen and Jonathan Phillips – which took them level on points with unbeaten leaders Coventry Blaze.

By the time Fox’s players trot out at the National Ice Centre tomorrow night to face Nottingham Panthers, they will have benefitted from two days’ rest having no scheduled game for tonight.

As far is Fox is concerned, though, that downtime is nothing more than his players deserve.

"I loved our compete from the first puck drop,” said Fox after Thursday’s win. “We were hard on every puck and we didn’t give them very much for the full 60.

"It’s (Glasgow) never an easy place to come and play, it was also a short week this week with the game being on Thursday, so it was a good win.”

While Fox has been impressed with the effort of all four lines over the past fortnight, he believes some of the impetus has come from his fourth line of Jonathan Phillips, Brandon Whistle and Alex Graham.

HAPPY DAYS: Aaron Fox is delighted with the compete level of his Sheffield Steelers' team, who have now won four straight. Picture: Dean Woolley/EIHL

"Everyone has bought in lately, we’re playing the right way and it’s coming from everybody,” added the Steelers’ head coach.

“I felt our fourth line of Whis, Jonno and Grammer, they’ve given us tons of energy these last few games and shown how to play the right way and it has been contagious.”