GARY SHAW has urged his Deeside Dragons side to play with more belief this weekend ahead of Sunday's home clash with Telford Tigers.

The Flintshire club return to Laidler Conference action after a two-week fixture-break, having lost ground on their league rivals who still retain games in hand.

Head coach Shaw is adamant his side has the quality to challenge at the top of the division and has called for more positivity on the ice.

He said: "The quality is in the squad, without a doubt.

"I think we've seen glimpses of it at time this season with some of our attacking play and overall we've looked like the better team in most of our games this season.

"We maybe haven't picked up the results we should have done because there have been far too many errors on our part - which have cost us points.

"From a coaching point of view we just need to stretch our positive plays across the full 60 minutes and play with a little bit more belief.

"It's important that we start seeing that quickly from the players because we've already played more games than most teams in this league and we're already playing catch-up."

The Dragons have faced the Tigers twice already this term, with Shaw's side humbled 12-3 in the away clash last month before a 6-3 victory in Deeside a week later.

The Shropshire side head into the clash buoyed by a 4-3 success against Bradford Bulldogs last weekend with Shaw wary of their collective and individual strengths.

He said: "They'll be coming here looking to put their last result against us right.

"We played very well in that game with some big performances all over the ice from our players, with James Parsons scoring a couple for us.

"But Telford are title challengers and will want to prove a point because with the squad they have, they're capable of hurting any team that doesn't defend properly.

"They're compact and give the opposition no time on the puck at all. And in their attacking line they've got players like Karol Jetts who's got lots of experience and is a great finisher.

"We'll need to be at our best to cope with all of their danger men and try to kick-start some good form again with a positive result."

League fixtures start on Saturday evening as Bradford host Coventry Blaze and Blackburn Hawks seconds visit Hull Jets.

Sheffield club Senators head to Blackburn in Sunday, whil leaders Widnes Wild host Altrincham Aces.