WE took another, important step closer to our goal on Sunday night.

Another four points - or a four-point swing with us winning and Billingham losing next weekend - and the NIHL North Moralee Division One title will be ours.

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It is what we set our sights on at the start of the season, and - so far - we are unbeaten in our quest to achieve it.

Although the 8-4 scoreline might suggest otherwise we made harder work of our game against Solway Sharks than we should have.

We took a 4-1 lead into the second period, when the Sharks hit back to reduce the deficit to 4-3. A missed a penalty was a huge let-off for us - and we went on to lead 8-3 before Sharks added a consolation fourth with just over a minute to go.

Penalties were our Achilles heel in the second period especially and I think they scored three power play goals. No-one can keep up with us five on five, but we put ourselves under unnecessary pressure.

But, with the help of a couple of goals for Ollie Lomax, we got the win we needed and our title push remains in our hands, with the chance to win it at home on Sunday.

In that instance we have to beat Sheffield Spartans and Billingham must lose at Sutton Sting. That is a difficult game for our nearest challengers, with Sutton in the hunt for a play-off place. Below us it is all to play for.

But we don’t want to be relying on anyone else.

It could be a good night at the rink, but we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and not get caught up in it.

It would be good to do it at home, but anywhere will do. We want to win it for ourselves, and for Alan Amos.

His funeral last week was an emotional occasion but an uplifting one in seeing so many people there.

Myself and a few of the players were pallbearers - wearing our tracksuit tops over our suits - and there must have been around 500 people at the service. It was a good send-off, and we hope to continue to do him proud.