Now not the time to take our foot off the gas, vows Giants boss Keefe

ADAM Keefe has spelt out to his Belfast Giants players that the hard work is only starting, despite shooting themselves to the top of the Elite League.

After two outstanding displays of character in wins away to Coventry Blaze and the Cardiff Devils last weekend, the Giants have set the standard that Keefe wants to see maintained.

This means stretching the current three-game winning run to five matches by beating Milton Keynes Lightning tonight followed by another victory against the Guildford Flames.

“It’s where we want to be, but at the same time we are aware that it’s not going to be easy to stay there and a few teams have games in hand,” said Keefe.

“Now it’s about what we do, about us playing the game the way we want to play it and trying to stay there.

“We’re coming into a tough run of road games and we want to do things right and make sure that we are still on a good spot when we come out of it.

“The guys know that, they know they can’t relax and be happy with where we are now because it’s not about where you are at the start of December.

“We have to keep pushing and that starts this weekend by going in and getting points against Milton Keynes and Guildford.”

After moving to the top of the standings Keefe wants his players to adopt the ‘keep calm’ philosophy in their pursuit of the Elite League title.

With a list of injuries that grows longer, the last thing that Keefe needed was another suspension, but Jonathan Ferland will now miss the next three matches leaving the team short of numbers.

“Our attitude and our discipline has to be right,” said Keefe.

“We signed players who are passionate and we are going to get calls go against us.”