Player-coach Tom Watkins has hailed the “great leadership” of Telford Tigers forward Scott McKenzie, with his side refusing to rule out an unlikely play-off charge – despite Monday’s 3-2 defeat to Sheffield Steeldogs.

McKenzie was once again on target during the final period at Ice Sheffield as the Tigers narrowly missed out on forcing overtime for the third time in three matches.

The Scott has amassed 27 points in 28 games this season and is second only to joint-top scorers Josh Bruce and Joe Henry.

Watkins will remain alert to any available players during the remaining few weeks of the transfer window, but believes assistant captain McKenzie is showing true leadership qualities.

He said: “Scott typified it to me this weekend when people thought we would be getting a new player and Tom Carlon became available. We didn’t sign him, but Scott said you don’t miss what you’ve never had.

“He said there is a lot of belief that we can still make the play-offs and that shows great leadership. We need to get that belief through to the guys, but we played with a lot of passion through Christmas.”

Monday’s game started badly for Telford, with Sheffield once again relying on netminder Ben Bowns to shore up its defence as they took a 1-0 lead into the first period break.

Marek Hornak pulled a goal back for the Tigers during the second period, but with Sheffield scoring twice at the start of the third, McKenzie’s late strike wasn’t enough to salvage a point.

Telford’s scoring record remains a concern for Watkins – hence his interest in new players over the next few weeks.

He added: “It all depends on who is available, but we have been looking and we will still be looking for another forward.

“Ross Venus and Adam Taylor are both in and out of the squad, so we need someone who is concrete.

“We want to improve the team and if that means releasing someone, then we have got to try it. There is still another 28 days left, so we’ll see how we get on.”

Telford must now prepare for a tough first weekend of 2012, with a trip to Milton Keynes on Saturday, before the visit of Manchester Phoenix the next day.