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Good luck everyone.

Unless cancelled or a very early finish I'll be umpiring in the Lincolnshire Premier Cricket League with my phone switched off. Might even be live on YouTube as the game I have been appointed to usually livestreams their home games, massive attendance of around 40 spectators........

The two key factors for me this w/end are 1.Greener being on his A game as this always puts us in with a shout and 2. Richie who i believe can swing these big games,, his experience and skill can make the difference,,,,, 3 - 1 steelers

I'm not going to make any predictions after my disastrous quarter final efforts. One out of four wasn't good and even my Cardiff to win prediction wasn't close like I suggested. A good job I'm not a betting man.

It's good to see some different teams making it to Nottingham, thankfully not at our expense.

Bookies will obviously be going for a Sheffield v Cardiff final and I'd suggest Cardiff are the clear favourites overall, but you just never know.

If we play like we did against Guildford we certainly have a decent chance, but we need to be at the top of our game.

Interesting that the NIHL finals are the same weekend. I wonder if there's any chance of IBN and/or Watson playing both semis in the same day. The Dogs semi in Coventry will likely be finished around 4pm.....enough time to shower and get to Nottingham for 7pm?

Regards

Doom

How are we watching this...? £16 Per game via EIHL Stream... Premier Sports dont even seem to be listing
Saturday as a game day?[IMG]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202604 ... f71823.jpg[/IMG]

Jayboy

And non of the games apear in the Premier Sports listing's via Sky Q

Jayboy

I thought Prem Sports were only showing the final.

I thought semis were webcast only.

Regards

Doom

Yeah only the final will be shown on Premier Sports, so a stream for the semi-final is required.

https://www.eliteleague.co.uk/article/5 ... ier-sports

As for this game, we should have too much for Manchester, but as we’ve seen many times, a one-off game could be anyone’s.

Play to this team’s potential and it’s a Steelers win. Play to the level we have at many times this season, a good 30 minutes only etc, then I can see Storm winning.

I predict a 3-2 Steelers win.

Doom wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 1:51 pm

Interesting that the NIHL finals are the same weekend. I wonder if there's any chance of IBN and/or Watson playing both semis in the same day. The Dogs semi in Coventry will likely be finished around 4pm.....enough time to shower and get to Nottingham for 7pm?

Can't see this happening, surely they'd be cream crackered....and then potentially ask them to play an NIHL final the following day? Given how little Fox has played well rested Brits this year I don't know how much time you could expect him to give to knackered Brits.

I think it more likely that Shudra will be very little icetime and may as well be icing for the Dogs instead.

Clear The Zone wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 8:42 pm

Doom wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 1:51 pm

Interesting that the NIHL finals are the same weekend. I wonder if there's any chance of IBN and/or Watson playing both semis in the same day. The Dogs semi in Coventry will likely be finished around 4pm.....enough time to shower and get to Nottingham for 7pm?

Can't see this happening, surely they'd be cream crackered....and then potentially ask them to play an NIHL final the following day? Given how little Fox has played well rested Brits this year I don't know how much time you could expect him to give to knackered Brits.

I think it more likely that Shudra will be very little icetime and may as well be icing for the Dogs instead.

I think you're probably correct, it would be a big ask.

I suppose if the Dogs got knocked out and Steelers made the final they would join Steelers in Nottingham.

IBN got quite a lot of ice time against Guildford. Fox seemed happy enough to throw him in after Heard got thrown out. I guess additional Brits do give a bit of insurance against certain events (import injuries and/or players getting thrown out).

Regards

Doom

I'm always interested to see who the 'neutrals' support in these games.

Obviously in the evening game it will be all Manchester......just how we like it.

The afternoon game is harder to call. My guess is most will go for Glasgow either due to dislike of Cardiff (Coventry & Belfast) or because they're the underdog.

Nottingham supporters might be torn. They'd probably prefer to see Glasgow win the playoffs, but I think the overriding emotion is Steelers don't win them and Cardiff are more likely to stop us if we get through.

Fife might also side with Cardiff, because I don't think there's any love lost between them and Glasgow.

I'll be with Glasgow in the afternoon, because I don't like Cardiff and their constant whining about having a lower budget when they lose a few games (I don't buy it their budget is much lower than the arena clubs).

Regards

Doom