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| Filip Supa scores for Deeside at Altrincham Photo by Peter Sheffield - www.psd-images.com |
Dragons coach Lol Paul believes his side have taken a
further step towards building a ‘fortress Deeside’, following Saturday night's
9-1 win over Coventry Blaze. Victory at Chester Road was the Dragons’ second win over
Coventry in as many home games, giving them a nine-point lead at the top of the
Laidler Conference.
Paul is keen to continue developing that intimidating atmosphere
over coming weeks. He said: “I wanted to test the guys against Coventry,
especially after the Christmas break. They all responded really well, including
James Parsons and Stevie Fellows, who came back from injury.
What I want to do is keep building a fortress at Deeside,
like they had at places like Whitley in the 1980s and 90s. Nobody wanted to go
there and play the Warriors. We are doing that at the moment, but I want it to continue,
so teams feel like they’ve been beaten before the puck is dropped. We’ve got a
big team, which seems to give us the mental edge.”
Deeside found themselves 1-0 up after just seven minutes on
Saturday night, thanks to a goal from captain Marc Lovell. But they had to wait until the second period for further
success, with strikes from Adrian Palak (2), Filip Supa, Paul Davies and Simon
Furnival. The visitors snatched a consolation goal on 38 minutes,
before Alex Parry (2) and Furnival sealed victory after the break.
Aces v Dragons Sunday
night 1-8
Deeside Dragons cemented their status as Laidler Conference
title challengers with an 8-1 drubbing of Altrincham Aces on Sunday night. Victory at the Ice Dome was Deeside’s ninth success in eight
games, and gives them a commanding lead at the top of the standings.Dragons head coach Lol Paul breathed a sign of relief, after watching his side overcome a vastly improved Aces outfit. He said: “It is relieving when your team puts that many goals past a team like Altrincham. The lads came out flying tonight and dominated from the start. I’m really pleased with the whole team performance, and it wasn’t just the goals. Our breakouts were excellent, as were our transitions. Someone said to me at the game that we’ve really developed as a team, and that was great to hear. The guys are certainly flourishing.”
That opening Deeside goal came from Simon Furnival, before a
further strike from Paul Davies ahead of the first period break. Filip Supa added a third at the start of the second session,
while Matthew Wainwright found himself on the scoresheet just minutes later.
The hosts scored a consolation goal with four minutes of the
period remaining, although James Parsons hit back almost straight away. Adrian Palak and Supa (2) completed the scoring in the final
session, giving the Dragons their second victory of the weekend.
Paul added: “Our defence were great, even with guys like
Bryn Roberts and Steve Fellows missing. Matthew Wainwright fully deserved his
man of the match award. I threw Jake Orr in at the deep end and he responded really
well. The whole team worked their socks off, which was probably the most
impressive thing tonight. We have got two massive games next weekend, against
Blackburn and Nottingham. We’ll go into training hard this week and not take
our foot off the gas.”
