Country cousins hand out warning

SHEFFIELD Steelers' slick new skaters ground to a halt last night when they were held by their 'lowly' English Premier League cousins.

cimitars came from 2-0 down to almost win the friendly at iceSheffield. They could have won it at the end.

The run-out served to show how much work coach Dave Matsos must do to gell the team before the serious action starts on Saturday week.

Six new recruits were making their debuts, Jeff Legue, Ashley Tait, Steve Munn, Doug Sheppard and Joey Talbot. Canadian defenceman Randy Dagenais is not due to arrive until Tuesday, and will miss the Manchester friendlies.

Cornish was two minutes into his first appearance before taking a slashing penalty and he unnecessarily followed that up later by grabbing young Robert Farmer's face mask.

Friendlies are no reliable barometer of any team's readiness. But Scimitars did not look a league inferior. Slovakian forward Peter Slamiar is a decent import and in Robert Dowd, they have an Elite quality player.

For Steelers, Legue is as fast, fabulously skilled with a cannon shot.

Watch for him this season, the small-statured forward could be a huge hit.

Scimitars kept a clean sheet until Steelers skipper Jonathan Phillips flipped the puck over grounded goalie Paul Jones.

Scimitars turned the game on its head in a second period few saw coming. A goal-ending error from Jones handed Phillips his second goal - but then the EPL team hit back.

Davey Lawrence, substituting Jody Lehman at the halfway point, could only watch as a wrist shot from Slamiar flash under the bar and in. He was fishing the puck out again seven minutes later from Ben Morgan. It was 2-2 and the Elite Leaguers had lost their shape. Early days, but a warning no-one at the club can ignore.

Legue seemed to steady the ship with a bullet underneath Jones at 44;54.

Rink-rusty Ryan Finnerty and Steve Munn both missed chances and suddenly Sheffield were pegged level again through Dowd and with Steelers running out of steam, Dowd levelled at 3-3.