THE Deeside Dragons welcome an in-form Sheffield Senators side to the Den on Sunday, still searching for their first success of the season in front of their own supporters.

Home losses to Bradford, Telford, Altrincham, and most recently Hull, have condemned the Flintshire club to seventh in the NIHL Laidler Conference.

But the Dragons’ player-coach, Marc Lovell, hopes that the return of Chris Jones to the team can inspire their side to a much-needed victory.

Jones is yet to make a competitive appearance so far this season due to a wrist injury that he picked up in a pre-season game against Telford.

But Lovell says that his return coupled with a nearly full squad to choose from could be influential. He said: “Chris Jones is back playing again.

“He’s trained with us for the last two weeks and has been given the green light to play by the medical team so that’s a big boost for us.

“With Chris back, we’ll have everyone available except for Alex Parry who’s serving the last of his four-game ban.

“Our home form has been frustrating, especially because we seem to play good away. We came close against Hull last time out but got sloppy to lose it at the end.

“So, it’s really about the consistency now, and putting in a performance for the whole 60 minutes. We’ve trained hard, and it’s been a good week off, but now we’re ready to go.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s an advantage, but I think Sheffield have about six or seven players out serving four-game bans for something that happened against Bradford.

“They also play against Telford the night before coming to ours, so that could play into our favour too. But either way, it’ll be a tough game.”

Despite seven Sheffield players receiving match penalties against Bradford, the Senators have gone on to win their next two games against Blackburn and Altrincham – scoring 28 goals in the process.

They’ll look to continue that run of form when they take on Telford Tigers in Yorkshire on Saturday, a day before heading to Flintshire.

Elsewhere in the NIHL Laidler Conference, Altrincham Aces go to top of the table Hull, and Bradford welcome last year’s champions Widnes.

Widnes then host Altrincham on Sunday, while the Bulldogs head to bottom of the league Blackburn, and when the Deeside Dragons entertain the Senators.