Sheffield Steelers coach Dave Matsos has stood behind his decision to deploy Nathan Gillies on a crucial penalty shot - even though the forward has yet to register a point in his debut Elite League season.
Gillies was granted the chance to break his duck at Manchester Phoenix in an end-game shoot out.
Like Jeff Legue and Joey Talbot, he failed to hit the net - which meant Steelers lost.
Today Matsos says: "I have no regrets, I have a lot of faith in Nathan. People don't realise that he was six goals in seven penalty shoot-outs last year, I know he has the nerve for these occasions and he was unlucky not to score against Manchester.
"I thought our three shooters were good enough to bring home that extra point. We have a good record in shoot-outs and I didn't think that was about to change."
Matsos accepts GilIies is "feeling the pressure a bit, he wants the monkey off his back but the pressure is coming from himself not me, I haven't lost any confidence in him at all.
"Sometimes the game sheet doesn't tell you what a player brings to a team. Gillies rocked Hull Stingrays with some huge body checks, Pavel Gomenyuk is a big strong man and Nathan landed some crunching checks on him."
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