Sheffield Steelers: Top goalscorer Robert Dowd admits team has issues with consistency

More specifically, they have lost four out of their last five matches, conceding 21 goals.

Earlier this week, The Star blamed a worrying lack of consistency - and Dowd was honest enough to recognise that.

“Inconsistency is an issue, it would be wrong to say otherwise plus it’s there for us all to see" the club's top goalscorer said.

“We have shown games of excellence like last Saturday against Coventry Blaze and the week before at Cardiff Devils so there is no question about the ability of this squad.

"We have all the qualities, all the ability and desire. We are a good group of people and players but we must learn to put in full 60 minutes."

Dowd stressed: "It’s down to us and no one else and there is no better team to do it against than Nottingham" - a reference to Panthers' visit on Saturday.

"We had their number in the Challenge Cup but this is the real stuff, this is the league and is what matters most to us, that’s our priority.

"They say our play offs here are too short, but my opinion is that we play an eight-month play-off series and its called the League.

"Every game has 'Game Seven' importance. You can’t win the league in November, but you can lose it and we have to make sure we don’t.

"We have to win the series against the top clubs - Cardiff, Belfast Giants and Nottingham.”