Sheffield Steelers urged to fix their shooting sights in order to remain in Elite League title hunt

A 3-1 defeat at Manchester Storm on Wednesday night was the last thing the Steelers needed just a week after their shock exit from the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage on home ice against Fife Flyers.

Fox’s team gained some kind of revenge at the weekend when they twice beat the Flyers in the league, securing two 1-0 wins, the second of which was decided by a shootout in Kirkcaldy.

The Steelers took a fourth-minute lead through Tomáš Pitule in Altrincham against the Storm and outshot their hosts 47-32.

But their struggles to find the net this time proved costly, Manchester getting their noses in front through second-period strikes from Stephen Johnson and Cam Critchlow before the two combined again in the 43rd minute for Johnson to make it 3-1.

The defeat, coupled with a 5-1 home win for Cardiff Devils over Glasgow Clan, saw the Steelers swap places with their Welsh rivals and drop to fourth, four points off leaders Belfast Giants with a game in hand and 13 games remaining.

"We’re having a tough time scoring goals right now,” said Fox.

"We had 47 shots here, one goal, we had 50 shots on Sunday and zero goals. We need our best players to be our best players right now – we can’t expect our goalie to win us every hockey game.

"I know things go hot and cold during the season but this is a bad time for us not to be finding the back of the net. There are 13 games left here, we’ve got to get this sorted real quickly.”