Scims look to bring down Jets one more time

SHEFFIELD SCIMITARS were able to go into the end-of-season play-offs with confidence after finishing the regular campaign with two wins over Slough Jets - the team they will face next weekend.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Mar 2010, 12:50 BST
Updated 29th Mar 2010, 23:34 BST

A 4-3 win in Slough was followed by a 7-2 thrashing of the Jets in the return match in Sheffield on Sunday night.

Jon Rowbotham's team finished the regular season in seventh place in the English Premier League, booking next weekend's two-legged play-off clash with second-placed Jets, who finished nine points adrift of league champions Milton Keynes Lightning.

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A 10-1 win over second-bottom Bracknell Bees ensured Manchester Phoenix finished third in their first EPL season, edging out both Guildford Flames and Basingstoke Bison by one point.

On Sunday, Matt Haywood led the way with a hat-trick for the South Yorkshire side, with James Archer (2), Lee Haywood and Chris Sykes completing the rout.

That followed a fantastic comeback in Slough on Saturday night when Scims came back from three goals down to take both points with four powerplay goals.

Archer was on target twice again, with Lloyd Gibson and Mark Stewart also finding the net.

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But Scimitars will be considered the underdogs when they travel to Slough on Saturday night before returning to Ice Sheffield for the second leg on Sunday (5.30pm).

Rowbotham admits recent months have seen his side stumble into the play-offs, with only six wins in 28 games since the turn of the year.

"The last four months have been really tough," admitted Rowbotham.

"We have had games in the bag only to throw the result away in the final third of the game and I have been working hard to address the issues that have tripped us up.

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"It is important on so many levels for the Scims to be successful and we need to salvage something from the past four months to end the season creditably."

Jets head coach Pete Russell felt it necessary to apologise for his side's two performances at the weekend, promising a marked improvement in the play-offs.

"As the coach I will take full blame and will do all in my power to prepare the team for next weekend," said Russell.

"Sheffield are a talented team and we didn't perform to the level that we are capable of and that combination led to us taking no points from this weekend.

"I will be focussing on getting the team back to the level I know we can play at for next weekend."

More Scims details to follow.

Related topics:SheffieldPete Russell