WITH two new faces coming in for this weekend, Matty Davies has declared himself settled with the roster he now has at his disposal until the end of the NIHL National season.

Owen Sobchak’s arrival as the replacement import forward for the axed Bobby Young was confirmed on Wednesday evening, while Josh Hodgkinson’s move up from Whitley Warriors in North One went through earlier this week.

Both will go straight into the line-up for Saturday’s home game against Bees IHC, the first part of a double-header which sees Davies’s team head to Slough 24 hours on Sunday.

The Seahawks go into the weekend buoyed not only by the addition of two new faces, but also in confident mood from last Sunday’s 6-4 home win over second-placed Milton Keynes Lightning.

NEW HOME: Former Leeds Knights- D-man Josh Hodgkinson will debut for Hull Seahawks this weekend. Picture courtesy of Oliver Portamento.

“I feel it was the best we’d played since the win at Leeds before Christmas,” said Davies. “We were missing an import in Bobby and we were also without Nathan Salem and so to beat them with the team we had out, I was really proud of them all.

“They all bought into what I wanted from them, stuck to the system and we managed to get the job done. We really needed it, too, we needed the points.

“I feel we’re back on the right track now. We get Josh into our line-up this week as well as Owen, so things are looking positive.

“We just needed to add to our roster. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of games coming up and a lot of tough games coming up and we needed more bodies. I’m happy with what we have now - this is what we’re going to have going until the end of the season.

NEW FACE: Former Bristol Pitbulls forward Owen Sobchak will make his debut for Hull Seahawks against Bees IHC on Saturday. Picture: Jacob Lowe/Knights Media

“And this weekend is about building on that win over MK. We want to win, we want to look good winning, we want to play hard and make life difficult for every team we come up against.”

Elsewhere, Sheffield Steeldogs will look to snap a seven-game losing streak when they host Solway Sharks today (7.30pm). The two sides meet again in Dumfries on Sunday.

Assistant coach Neil Abel – on the bench alongside head coach Steve Weeks for last week’s heavy defeats to Peterborough Phantoms and Telford Tigers – said he was looking for the confidence to return to the team, who go into the weekend looking to snap a seven-game losing streak.

'Confidence is low right now," admitted Abel. “But having seen a couple of good periods I know it is there to build on.

"We need to steer clear of penalties - that doesn’t do us any favours. We do create chances and when confidence is high you just need a couple of shots and you’ve got goals.

“If we can get early goals this weekend it will get the confidence rising. We have to make sure our heads don’t go down.”

Leaders Leeds Knights make the trip to bottom club, Bristol Pitbulls hoping to at least maintain the five-point thet established over second-placerd Milton Keynes on Friday night with a hard-fought 5-1 win at home to Telford Tigers.

NIHL National: Hull Seahawks coach happy with his lot as Sheffield Steeldogs look to break losing streak