Ukrainian forward Konstanin Kalmikov scored two goals against Belfast

Coach Rick Strachan believes his Hull Stingrays side are improving.

The Stingrays won 6-3 in Belfast on Saturday before narrowly losing 2-1 at home to Sheffield 24 hours later.

"I don't think Rome was built in a day but in the last few weeks I've seen so many positives from my team," Strachan told BBC Radio Humberside.

"As long as we keep building from week to week I don't think it will be long before we can get some four-point weekends and that'll be good for us."

On Saturday night the Stingrays, who handed a debut to 34-year-old American left winger Jamie Thompson, were dominant as they toppled the Elite League leaders Belfast 6-3 away from home in the Odyssey Arena.

Konstantin Kalmikov scored early for the Rays, but a Colin Shields strike ensured the two sides went into the first break locked at 1-1.

The second period was all the Rays as goals from Matt Reynolds, Steve Slonina and Kalmikov's second took them into a 4-1 lead.

I thought the boys played with intensity and stuck to the system and put in a pretty good performance Hull Stingrays coach Rick Strachan

It was a quick turnaround for the Rays when they entertained Sheffield at the Hull Arena in the Yorkshire derby 24 hours later.

The Steelers gained the advantage with a short-handed goal from Joey Talbot in the first period but Kostadine levelled affairs with a goal in the middle period to leave it all tied up going into the final 20 minutes of the game.

It was nip and tuck but the game-winning goal came on the power play for Sheffield when Talbot bagged his second of the night, converting Ashley Tait's neat set up with a back-post strike.

Despite the reverse, Strachan was happy to take the positives out of a tough weekend.

He said: "I thought the boys put in a spirited performance. Everyone of them worked extremely hard and towards the end of the game we ran out of gas.

"Sheffield gained some momentum and they finally scored on a power play, all in all, I thought the boys played with intensity and stuck to the system and put in a pretty good performance."

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