Dundee Stars coach Omar Pacha has urged his team’s fans to get behind his players when they face Glasgow Clan in the first Challenge Cup quarter final this Friday.
The Stars, who recorded home and away wins in the group over Zack Fitzgerald’s men, are looking or a first ever semi final spot after picking their fellow Scottish rivals to face in the last eight.
And Pacha, in a message to fans on the club website, is keen to keep momentum going after a recent upturn in results, including Saturday’s win at Belfast Giants.
“The game on Friday will be the biggest game of the season so far for us without doubt and this group wants to create a legacy here in Dundee so we will be doing everything we can to make it to the semi-finals,” he said.
“If we are fortunate enough to get there, anything can happen from that point so I can’t stress enough how important it is to have your support for both games, it gives the players a massive boost seeing the stands full and helps drive us forward when in the battle of the game.
“The immediate focus now is the Challenge Cup this coming Friday – it’s a competition that we obviously did extremely well to get to this stage and it’s a massive opportunity for us as a club to now do something special should we progress.
“Not only finishing top of our group, but winning the overall group phase was a big accomplishment for us. We were able to go five and one during those six games, which was an impressive output from the players and should give the guys added confidence going into this series.”
Dundee are hosting Glasgow Clan in the first leg of the quarter final this Friday (PHOTO: Derek Black)
Pacha also spoke of the recent slump in form that saw them win one in nine before they registered three wins in their last three after the weekend’s games.
And now that they’ve found that winning feeling again, he’s hoping for the momentum to continue, with Coventry Blaze also visiting Dundee on Saturday in league action.
He added: “As everyone knows, we went through a rough patch a few weeks back where we were losing too many games for my liking.
During that time, we found ways to lose games in many different ways, from bad bounces, to an unsuccessful goal line technology decision to direct mistakes attributable to us that were ultimately costing the team points.
“We certainly felt we were working extremely hard but the results just weren’t there and as a coach, when you see your team working their tails off day in day out but the results not coming, it’s very frustrating as I want to see these guys enjoy success.
“We pressed the reset button here two weeks ago and since then we’ve won our last three. We’re coming out of a very gutsy road win in a sold out arena against a stacked Belfast Giants side which was a very pleasing result.
“Obviously our intentions are to keep this momentum up and keep ourselves within distance of other sides and of course, push ourselves up the ladder.”
