GAME THREAD. Steelers v Blaze. Sat 23rd Sep 2023

[Bryan]

Looks as if Watling might be a gem. One opportunity and he scores. Looked good preseason.. Greenfield was busy and generally good with perhaps one poor moment. Couldn’t understand the lines. We obviously need more preseason to sort them out. No good doing while playing determined players in the mould of their manager.

[wakefieldsteelersfan]

We stole 2 points tonight. Huge contrast to preseason, we looked flat and lacking energy for the first 40 minutes. Coventry wanted it more and it showed.

[greeny]

Well a win is a win, not too impressed overall, but if we can keep getting the points on the board whist still finding best lines etc then thats a positive

[Woodsy]

Not ideal by the sound of it, but at least we got the 2 points this time.

Watling seems to be the star forward we haven't had in a while, hopefully his form will continue but we will need more from the supporting cast if we are to win silverware this year.

[wakefieldsteelersfan]

It's early doors and I'm not one to usually be critical of players......but Nicholls really needs to start showing something, he was absolutely terrible tonight. Hopefully it's just a case of needing a goal to kick start his season and not that we've signed another St.Pierre.

[Doom]

It's early doors and I'm not one to usually be critical of players......but Nicholls really needs to start showing something, he was absolutely terrible tonight. Hopefully it's just a case of needing a goal to kick start his season and not that we've signed another St.Pierre.

He looks off the pace to me, I just hope it's down to early season rather than another example of a player rapidly on the decline in his 30's.

Based on what I've seen so far, I think I'd make Nicholls the healthy scratch and play Kielly tonight.

Looking at the gamesheet we were very strong at faceoffs last night, particularly Watling who won 11 of 13 and Allen who won 8 of 9. Only really Dowd had a bad night on that front.

The only player to be +2 was Petgrave, so a good night for him.

Overall it was a win, but play like that against Nottingham or Belfast and we'll be I'm trouble.

Regards

Doom

[smbmetal]

Didn’t see the game as I’m in sunny Florida.

Was hoping for a statement of intent. Whilst it’s very, very early it was concerning to read that we looked like we were out coached?

Has the physical side shown in the pre-season games dropped off as well?

Still, pleased with the win, let’s see if we can get another 2 points in Guildford.

[paul johnston]

It was a throwback to last season's type of performance and I'm amazed Fox said he liked our last 40 mins. Must be easier to impress than me. We were often all over the place and seemed to lack the physical edge that we played with in the pre-season games and we looked worse off for it.
Doom I'm surprised you see so much threat in Nottingham. My feeling is that they will be a 4-6 placed team.

[mark]

Just to put this game in some sort of context, Blaze have just beaten Cardiff 4-2

[jas]

Blaze came out of the traps far quicker than us last night. I'm not sure we got a viable touch of the puck at all during the first minute and Cov looked all over us. After that, I thought it was fairly even for the first 2 periods. However, I thought the 3rd was far better from us and I thought we'd get the win in regulation. Unfortunately it was not to be, but we ground it out in the end. Line-tinkering seems a bit of a trait with Fox and I imagine it to be very unsettling for the players. I hope he gets them sorted soon and isn't going to be doing it all season.