Telford Titans coach David Fielder believes fitness could prove key to his side’s league hopes after watching them lose 7-3 at Sheffield Spartans in the ENL Cup.

Saturday night’s clash marked the end of a mixed festive period for Telford, with no training sessions possible due to snow and a cancelled game at home to Whitley Bay.

That lack of ice time – apart from a defeat to Nottingham – proved to be a deciding factor at Ice Sheffield as they conceded five goals in just six powerplay periods.

Fielder said: “I had in mind a plan to bring on the kids and give some ofÊ the boys a rest, but they haven’t trained for a two weeks and it was a case of just getting on the ice.

“It did show in our fitness. With the Nottingham game last week, we only had a week off training, but the second week was a killer.”

Telford did take an early lead on Saturday when Fielder struck after just a few minutes, along with a goal from Luke Brittle, although Sheffield ended the first period with a 5-2 cushion.

But the hosts only scored two more goals in the second period, and with Ryan Stanton adding a third for Telford later on, Fielder was happy with his side’s efforts.

“We can beat them and for the first five minutes we were all over them,” he added.

“We got a goal on one of the first shifts and did really well. But it was a couple of powerplay goals that killed it off.

“We worked hard in the second period and our goal was to win the third period, which we did.”

Telford face two away games next weekend, with a trip to basement side Kingston in the league on Saturday, before a clash at ENL 2 side Flintshire in the cup just 24 hours later.

By JAMES SHAW