In contention fitness boost
“Other sides will go through this during the season.
“We’ve looked at warm ups and warm downs with Bennett and Mendez but there’s not many muscle injuries.
“We’re always looking to see if we can eliminate the little niggles but we haven’t done bad. The medical department has done really well, so it’s tough for them as they are injuries that haven’t been preventable.”
Long-term absentees Kadeem Harris, Lee Camp and Jazz Richards will all miss the visit of Brentford, but Warnock has revealed those on the treatment table are edging ever closer to returns.
“Jazz is about four weeks away yet and Kadeem is probably a little bit less and the same with Camp,” added the veteran boss. We’re getting there but it’s frustrating at the minute not to be able to pick your best team.” ANDREW Lord is demanding a big reaction from his players after Cardiff Devils crashed to Elite League defeat in midweek.
Coach Lord and his players lost 3-1 against a Dundee Stars team who have now beaten Manchester, Belfast and Cardiff in their last three home fixtures.
“It was ugly,” said Lord. “We had to be better with our puck management and we over complicated things for a road game.”
Devils had won six successive matches going into the clash with Dundee and they now play Fife Flyers at home tonight (7pm) and Nottingham Panthers away on Sunday (4pm).
“We’ve had some terrific results at home,” said Dundee player-coach Omar Pachar.
“That is the best team performance we have produced all season and every player competed hard. Everybody contributed.
“Devils are one of the better teams in the league, but my players were prepared to sacrifice their bodies and we kept second chances to a minimum.”
Pacha believes Cardiff’s goal, scored by man-of-the-match Tyson Strachan, should have been ruled out because of high sticks and goalie Travis Fullerton made his point forcefully to referee Neil Wilson.
Bryce Reddick hit a post as Devils pressed hard, while Fullerton, between the pipes for Stars, was in magnificent form.
Riley Stade, Jordan Cownie and Gabriel Levesque were the scorers for Dundee, but they were fortunate with their third goal.
“The puck hit me and went in,” said Levesque. “We got lucky on that and we’ll take it.”