DEESIDE DRAGONS boss Gary Shaw admits that he is concerned with his side’s current form but has vowed they’ll be “stronger” for this weekend’s clash against Sheffield.

The Dragons are set to return to the Deeside Leisure Centre on February 24 where they will host Sheffield Senators following three consecutive defeats away from home.

Despite looking like early contenders for the 2018/19 NIHL Laidler Conference title, the Senators have slipped down the standings after a run of just three wins from their last ten outings – which included a 7-5 success over Deeside in December.

The Dragons are in remarkably similar form too, with the Flintshire club also picking up three wins from the ten games since their defeat in Sheffield.

But head coach Gary Shaw is adamant that his side will bounce back, particularly thanks to the return of several key players.

While captain James Parsons is a major doubt for Sunday’s clash with an ankle ligament injury, Shaw is expected to be able to call upon the experienced trio of Simon Furnival, Marc Lovell and Geoff Wigglesworth after they each missed the recent 9-3 defeat in Bradford. He says:

“We’ve got to take the game to them. They’ll have players missing due to their Under 18s playing, so they’ll be weakened while we’ll be stronger thanks to having Si (Furnival), Marc (Lovell), and Geoff (Wigglesworth) back.

“He (James Parsons) wanted to play (vs Bradford Bulldogs). I ended up switching him to the wing because he was struggling with twists, turns and getting back. I’ve asked him to miss training on Wednesday to rest, and we’ll assess him again closer to the weekend for the game against Sheffield.

The Dragons will face Sheffield on the back of conceding 30 goals in their last three games, against Altrincham, Widnes, and Bradford respectively, which Shaw admits is “concerning”.

But they will be hoping that a return to Flintshire can inspire an improved performance at both ends of the rink this weekend. Shaw says:

“It’s concerning that we’re switching off and letting players go with the puck without pressure and giving them opportunities to make their plays. We need more speed on defence, so I might bring in two kids from Sutton this weekend.

“Our games have always been quite tight, but we’re still conceding more goals than we’re putting in.

“Although they’ve got a good squad, we shouldn’t be conceding that amount of goals against Bradford. And against Widnes they scored four goals in three minutes, we can’t allow that to happen.

“We have got to be switched on, iron out our mistakes, improve our decision making, and battle hard.”

Seventh placed Deeside will be desperate for the points to keep up the pressure on Coventry Blaze above them who are heading to winless Blackburn on Saturday in an attempt to widen the three-point gap between the two sides.

Elsewhere, meanwhile, Altrincham Aces are hosting top of the table Widnes, while Blackburn travel to Telford a day after taking on Coventry.