Tuesday 20th December 2011


Fife Flyers 5-6 Sheffield Steelers. Sheffield Steelers came back in the most dramatic fashion in Fife to claim two of the most unlikely points of the season.



Just 3 minutes into the final period, the Steelers trailed 5-1 and were looking down the barrel of just their 3rd league defeat of the season. Led by a brace from Luke Fulghum and single strikes from player coach Ryan Finnerty, Steve Birnstill and Jeff Legue, the Steelers tied the game in the 57th minute claiming a valuable point.

They then went on to win the game scoring in overtime through Mark Thomas to collect a second point which moves them into second place in the league table just 5 points behind leaders Belfast but with 5 games in hand.

"It was a crazy night" explained Head Coach Ryan Finnerty, "We played a pretty good first period and I was quiet happy at 0-0 at the end of 20.

"We completely fell off the rails in the middle period, we lost discipline and the Flyers took total advantage. We were 3-0 down and called a time out but despite pulling a goal back we end up being 4-1 down at the break.

"At 5-1 most teams would have folded the tent, but this team doesn't know how to lose right now. We dug deep, realised the hole we were in fought our way out of it. We got out of jail, it was a greasy win but one that at the end of the year might be the biggest win of our season."

Game winning goal hero Mark Thomas confirmed that the Steelers sneaked one at Fife "Big time we sneaked it! But we showed a lot character in doing so. A lot of us have won championships before and we know how important every game is. We didn't play well, we all knew that but we never gave up and dragged ourselves the points.

"I've been lucky scoring three big game winning penalty shot goals. Not bad for a guy who normally gets a nose bleed when i cross the red line. As much as the goals have been great for me, I wish we didn't keep having to go in to overtime to win games."

Finnerty paid tribute to the sides unsung forwards Lee Esders and Tom Squires "These two guys get forgotten from time to time, especially since some of the others have come back from injuries. They are both fighting for ice time right now and I have been so impressed with their attitude and desire. Tonight they both led the way, they never gave in and fought like their life depended on it. Everyone on the team knows what we have to do every night to win games and that is never give in. We showed that again tonight."

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