Joe Johnston admits he is disappointed Streatham Redskins only sit second in English National Ice Hockey League One South.
Despite starting their season with nine wins from 11 games, seven defeats across November and December have left them trailing leaders Chelmsford Chieftians by seven points despite having played three games more.
Both Wightlink Raiders and Invicta Dynamo are only a point further back but have multiple games in hand too, meaning Redskins could slip even further down the table
“I think being honest we’re probably a little disappointed with where we are, we should be higher,” said captain Johnston.
“We’ve shown again at times we can match anyone and we can probably beat anyone, but we’ve lost games we should never have lost really.”
The explosive start to the season came despite losing two of last year’s leading goalscorers in Callum Best and Sean Scarborough during the off-season.
But Redskins couldn’t keep the good form up and three successive losses in November were followed by four back-to-back losses in December, some of which against teams that Streatham had comfortably beaten earlier in the season.
Johnston though wants to remains focused on the challenges the new year presents, rather than dwell on previous results.
He added: “Obviously that’s in the past and we can’t go back on that anymore, but 2016 is a new year and it’s the business end of the season so we’ve got the best part of three months now to just knuckle down.”
Since that slump in results Johnston and his team have sparked something of a revival, winning all but one of their last five games. The exception being a 5-5 draw against Bracknell Hornets.
With this in mind he remains confident of a successful 2016, insisting Redskins remain in the hunt for silverware which has long eluded them.
He said: “We’ve started the year pretty well by getting a point in Bracknell with a few guys missing and twice beating Cardiff so we’ll just roll on to next weekend. There’s still plenty to play for.”
Redskins next play Solent Devils on January 24 after this weekend’s match away at Wightlink Raiders was postponed.
Feature image of Joe Johnston courtesy of Rick Webb, with thanks
