Steeldogs keep close track of leaders

The road win more than made up for the disappointment of only taking a single point from the previous night’s game at home to Telford Tigers, who came back from being 3-0 down at the start of the third period to eventually triumph 4-3 after a penalty shoot-out.

That capitulation by the Steeldogs understandably failed to impress Payette, but his mood soon changed following Sunday night’s win in Cambridgeshire.

“I thought we were pretty poor on Saturday,” said Payette. “These things happen, but it was not what I was expecting after being 3-0 up after 40 minutes.

“I was really disappointed with our third period performance.

“But we bounced back well on Sunday and the whole team contributed offensively - the game never looked in doubt.

“We were all over the ice and maybe could have won by seven or eight goals. At least we got a three-point weekend and remain near the top.”

After going into the weekend tied on points with three other teams at the top of the English Premier League table, Sheffield ended up one point adrift of newly-established joint-leaders Milton Keynes and Slough, who both picked up two wins.

Defending champions Manchester sit one place below Sheffield after they took only one win from the weekend, losing out 4-2 to Swindon on Saturday night before bouncing back on home ice with a 5-3 triumph over Bracknell.

Against Peterborough, the Steeldogs found themselves behind in the third minute but responded through Janis Ozolins and Lee Haywood to take a 2-1 lead into the second period.

The home side equalised in the 27th minute before Ben Morgan and Lloyd Gibson got on the scoresheet to make life more comfortable for the visitors.

Pavel Gomeniuk’s third period strike then sealed an impressive sixth league win of the season for the Steeldogs.

An 18th-minute strike from Ozolins put Sheffield ahead on home ice against Telford 24 hours earlier before second period goals from the prolific Latvian winger and Payette gave the home side a three-goal cushion going into the third.

But goals from Josh Bruce, Scott McKenzie and Andy McKinney forced the game into overtime and then a shoot-out, which saw the dogged Shropshire side emerge with the extra point.