GLASGOW CLAN head coach Zack Fitzgerald admits his side’s win over Fife Flyers on Sunday evening was “massive” and that it was just what his players needed.
The Clan had been on a quite disastrous run of form leading into their clash with Fife having lost their previous six games.
And with a bad start to the weekend, which saw them fall to defeat Dundee on Friday and Belfast on Saturday, confidence levels could not have been high ahead of Fife’s visit to Braehead.
However, Fitzgerald’s men scraped a much-needed victory, edging Fife out 3-2, with the winning goal coming from Mac Howlett in the second period.
“It was massive,” said Fitzgerald of the victory.
“That was the type of win we needed. We worked hard, we went through adversity, we kept it simple. It wasn’t going to be easy – we’ve been struggling but that was the win that, as a group, we needed. It was a character win.”
The Clan have been in a dire run of form recently which has seen them slide from top of the EIHL, as they were towards the end of last year, to their current league position of seventh.
The Clan have been hit badly by injuries recently, which has a huge impact on their form but Fitzgerald is hopeful their win over Fife will kick-start thing for them again.
“We talked about playing with a lead and what we have to do to be successful and I thought we were spot on,” he said.
“That’s our new plan, that’s how we’ve got to play. It’s an absolute dog fight right now for play-off positions.”
There is no time for Fitzgerald and his men to relax though, as tomorrow evening they will face Sheffield Steelers in the Challenge Cup.
With Sheffield currently topping the EIHL, the Clan will need to be at their best to take anything from the game but Fitzgerald is confident that if his men give everything they have, they can cause Sheffield trouble.
“We won in a battling way (on Sunday) and it’s tough (having three games in the weekend),” he said.
“We’ve got to look forward to it. Sheffield have given us a run for our money and at times, we’ve outplayed them for 40 minutes so we just have to throw it at them. We have to come from this game with confidence, get our rest when we can, rebuild and refocus. We can’t get away from how we want to play but we really want to dig deep.”
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