Manchester Storm 3 Sheffield Steelers 3: Fox's men coast into Challenge Cup semi-finals on aggregate

Storm had managed to close the gap to two goals at one point but Sheffield were good value for their first win of the season across the Pennines and a last-four meeting with Glasgow Clan.

A week earlier, Steelers had enjoyed a dominating 5-2 advantage in the home leg of the quarter final, but they had sprung a leak, defensively, on all their three previous trips to the Storm Shelter.

Without John Armstrong (upper body injury) they promoted Tanner Eberle up the ranks at Altrincham, and had Aaron Brocklehurst back from 'flu.

Ryan Finnerty's team are lurking near the bottom of the EIHl table and were desperate to supercharge their season in the Cup.

But they almost went behind early on with Marco Vallerand and Marek Troncinsky's one-timer blocked by goalie Matt Ginn.

Vallerand's interference penalty gave Storm chance of getting on the scoreboard, but they were yielded a two-on-one chance in their own end, Eric Meland unable to beat Ginn, who then had to act smartly to halt Anthony DeLuca.

Steelers' aggressive adversary Mathieu Gagnone was sent to the box after cross checking Eberle on the boards, the visitors first power play of the night.

Storm killed it - and then 42 seconds later went 1-0 up on the night, Adam Hughesman beating Tomas Duba at the back post after a pass from Dallas Ehrhardt.

Sheffield's 10 chances on goal were all blanked in the first period, which had reduced their aggregate lead to 5-3.

Robert Dowd had a brace if half chances after the interval, but Storm were looking dangerous.

Sheffield closed rank for a second Vallerand penalty, the forward springing out of the box to set up Eberle but again Storm blocked the chance.

Eventually it was Dowd who found the net, from an expert Nikolai Lemtyugov feed at 33:53.

But Manchester matched that precision and Cody Thompson made it 2-1 by finishing a bounce off the boards, to narrow Steelers' aggregate lead to 6-4 at 35:03.

The goal survived a video review.

Steelers, who are topping the regular league table, needed a last period goal to steady the ship, but efforts from Lemtyugov and DeLuca, twice, were denied by Ginn until finally the goal came which they deserved, Brendan Connolly striking his 16th of the season.

For the Steeler fans in the 995 crowd, it was a relief to see the aggregate advantage widen even further when Michael Davies shot high for 8-4 over two legs.

Storm had blown themselves out and Lemtyugov and DeLuca could have compounded their misery, but their efforts struck the ironwork.

Tyson Fawcett, at least, had the will to score a 58th minute consolation.

But Steelers romped through to the semi final showdown with the Clan.

* Paul Thompson, who left Steelers coaching role last season, has been axed by low-budget DEL side Schwenninger Wild Wings, who are bottom of the league.

Sports manager Jurgen Rumrich said: “The split was a really tough decision. Both Paul Thompson and (assistant) Mike Flanagan identified 100% with the Wild Wings and worked hard every day with the goal of getting the team ahead and making them better.

“But in the end we wanted to give a new impetus due to the sporting situation and leave no stone unturned in order to start the second half of the season more successfully.”

After 26 games, the club had 22 points and were 11 points behind the playoff ranks, winning once in six games.