Sheffield Steelers on a revenge mission against Cardiff Devils

A slow, defensively-leaky start saw them concede three goals in the first 12 minutes and Sheffield spent the rest of the night chasing the game, in vain.

Marco Vallerand was out injured but his team-mates who were playing couldn't bridge the gap.

Saturday sees the first encounter since Cardiff had that crushing Sheffield 5-0 win in Sheffield and Steelers might have Vallerand back from injury.

The South Yorkshire side has played only two domestic games since that defeat, losing one and winning one, so a road victory against such pedigree opponents would be a massive bonus and preserve their spot at the top of the EIHL division.

Fox prefers to place that 5-0 loss firmly in the rear view mirror.

"It has been a few weeks since that hockey game," he said.

The coach recalled: "It felt like in that first period everything that they did well ended up in the back of our net.

"And Mac (Carruth) made some good saves early on.

"I feel like if we play our game and see what our line-up is going to look like on the weekend, I am hoping to have some bodies back and we will be ready to compete."

Keaton Ellerby had been kicked out of the Cardiff game for checking to the head and Tanner Eberle picked up an injury that has deprived him of any minutes since. He, like Vallerand, has been skating this week.

It will be the first trip to South Wales since Sheffield won the Challenge Cup there in 2020, a weekend that heralded the beginning of the sporting Covid lockdown.

On Sunday, Sheffield entertain Dundee Stars.

In October, Steelers squeaked a 2-1 in Scotland, courtesy of goals from Robert Dowd and Adrian Saxrud-Danielsen, who will miss Sunday's game with injury.

Despite their position at the bottom of the league, there are no bad teams in the UK top flight, said Fox and: "If you don't come ready to play on any given night you will end up without the points."

Fox will be relieved if his top scorer will be back, should Vallerand pass a fitness test.

"He is a premium player in this league...he makes our power play better adapts to the pace of the game, teams have to play to stop him at times which opens up for his linemates," he said.

"Ebs (Eberle) is the same guy, a glue guy, the energy guy who we have missed in this stretch as well."

Having players like them and Robert Dowd out of their line up had hurt their team said Fox, who was delighted with Dowd's performance level when he returned to the ice, last weekend.