Dave Whistle Column: Weekend crucial to retaining title hope.

Byline: Dave Whistle

ONCE again the last week has brought some more bad news for us in terms of injuries and this led to another disappointing weekend of results.

You can't predict the future but if you had asked me last Thursday I would have definitely thought we had a great chance to win the games against Bracknell in the league and Nottingham in the Challenge Cup semi-final followed by the two games against Sheffield this weekend before we get our Christmas break.

However, those hopes were well and truly scuppered when we lost three more guys to injury in the first period of the game against Bracknell.

What can I say? We were down to eight fit players and that obviously produces its problems in trying to keep going for a full 60 minutes.

The players to their credit battled hard in both games and put in a lot of effort and from a coaches point of view that's all you can ask from them.

We came back from 3-1 down to force a tie with Bracknell but against Nottingham we just ran out of steam.

We played pretty well and to be leading 2-1 at the end of the second period was really encouraging and it was a pity that we just couldn't hold on and get that third goal.

It was a gloomy picture on Friday night however, and I don't think it would have surprised too many people if we had lost easily. But to lose by a single goal made it even harder to take.

To illustrate our problems, Todd Kelman played with a broken bone in his hand and Kevin Riehl then aggravated his back problem while Kory Karlander needed treatment on his hamstring injury.

We'll just have to wait and see if they recover for the weekend but Paxton Schulte will definetly not make it as he will be out for maybe six weeks and we don't know how serious Dave Matsos' knee problem is.

As a coach I've never encountered a run of injuries like this. I'm not sure of the answer right now.

I am looking for another player at the moment but he has got to be the right type who will suit our style of play and give us something extra in crucial areas.

Ideally I want to get him for the Continental Cup showdown but I would also like him here for those games just after Christmas.

However, our main concern at the moment is the two games against league leaders Sheffield at the weekend.

You don't want to put pressure on yourself but in my opinion this is the make or break weekend in terms of being in with a chance of winning the league.

If we can peg them back by four points then it would be a huge bonus going into Christmas and more than that it would give us the momentum to go on and retain our title.

CAPTION(S):

STRUGGLING: Kevin Riehl aggravated back injury