Ben Morgan looks for Sheffield Steeldogs to match improvement made by rivals Leeds Chiefs

The Chiefs may be bottom of NIHL National with only one win to their name, but player-coach Morgan is under no illusion over the quality his team will face for the first time since the two met on the opening weekend of the division’s inaugural season when the Steeldogs won 3-1.

The challenges faced by Sam Zajac’s team both before and during this season have been well-documented but they have shown in all eight games that they have what it takes to be a play-off contender, not that Morgan expected anything less.

“From the start of the season, regardless of what their results were going to be, I expected them to get better and better as the season went on,” said Morgan, whose team will be looking to bounce back from defeats to Swindon and Telford last week.

“If you look at the results they have run a lot of teams very close in recent weeks, so their points tally does not reflect how well they are playing. But, like they will be, we’ve got to be better compared to how we were in that first game.”

Chiefs’ forward Liam Charnock will face his former club for the first time since leaving at the end of last season.

“It’ll be nice for Charns and a nice chance for us to thank him for his years of service to the club,” said Morgan. “Ultimately though it’s another game, another chance to get two points.”