VIDEO: Steelers stay in title hunt after shutting out rivals Braehead

The result brought Steelers back to within three points of the visitors with a game in hand and six to play.

Face off was delayed by around an hour after Braehead’s coach broken down near Leeds in the rush hour traffic, Ryan Finnerty and his team eventually arriving at Ice Sheffield around 7.30pm.

And while the food and drink vendors at the venue no doubt rejoiced in the visitors’ misfortune, what followed when the match got underway was certainly worth waiting for.

Steelers fully aware going into the clash that defeat would probably signal the end of their regular season title hopes for another year, and both they and Clan went for the jugular from the off.

An end-to-end but goalless first period came and went with Kyle Jones the busier of the two netminders, but it was early in the second section that he was eventually beaten when Tyler Mosienko broke the deadlock from close range at 21.58.

Braehead picked up penalties at regular intervals but generally remained solid when a man down. That was until the home side’s pressure finally told when, with Zack Fitzgerald in the box on a delay-of-game call, Robert Dowd prodded home a rebound at 38.28 following good work by the impressive Mosienko.

Both sides continued to press in the third, with both goaltenders excelling - with Steelers’ Josh Unice getting the shutout he deserved. Leigh Salters and Tristan Harper were a constant threat for Braehead, but the home side remained solid enough to take both points and close the gap on the leaders.

Even with a game in hand on their Scottish rivals, however, Steelers still need the leaders to slip up elsewhere.

“We just keep giving ourselves a chance all the time and I felt we got better and better as the game went on,” said Steelers’ head coach Gerad Adams afterwards.

“I thought the scoreline was fair, I felt we played extremely well. We knew that to give ourselves a chance for the title we had to win tonight and we did that.

“They are pretty consistent with their approach and they’ve got some good hockey players that really help them. They are a good team and pretty hard to play against.

“We just have to keep winning. With some of the results we’ve had as of late, we’ve put ourselves in a spot where it’s a good/bad position. It’s good because we are still in there fighting for the title, but it’s bad because we know we have to win, we have to get the points and we can’t really afford any more sli-ups.

“But, when you’re in that situation, it is a lot of fun as well.”

The Steelers will now turn their attention to the weekend and look to maintain their title push at home to Belfast Giants on Saturday night.

The big day, however, comes 24 hours later when they take on Cardiff Devils in the final of the Challenge Cup (4pm).

Third-placed Cardiff sit two points and one place below Steelers in the league standings with a game in hand, the rivals also having to play each other three more times in the league in the next two weeks.