Deeside Dragons player coach Steve Fellows vented his frustration after seeing his depleted Deeside Dragons side fall to disappointing 7-1 defeat at Nottingham Lions on Sunday.

For the second week in succession, Fellows was down to the bare bones on the ice in the Laidler Conference and forced to look to the youth team to pad out is squad.

Injuries and player holidays have meant Fellows has been without a number of key players in recent weeks, including influential squad members such as Marc Lovell and James Parsons.

“It is frustrating for me as I think that we would have beaten Nottingam if we would have had a full squad available to choose from,” said Fellows.

“It’s hard for me to be annoyed at the guys that turn up and put the work in. My frustration lies with the guys who aren’t there.

“It’s been tough recently as guys have been injured or on holiday and it’s all coincided with the Christmas period, where we haven’t been able to train anywhere near as much as we would have liked.”

The Dragons started poorly at the mid-table Lions, who had been beaten by Deeside on the two previous encounters this season, finding themselves 3-0 down in the first 13 minutes.

Christopher Jones did net for the visitors to reduce the arrears in the second period as the Dragons looked to get themselves back into the contest.

But Nottingham ensured any lingering hopes of a Dragons fightback were extinguished with three goals in the final 20 minutes to seal a convincing victory to haul themselves level on points with their fourth-placed visitors.

Fellows revealed that he was hoping to add a new player to his small squad, with the Dragons chief hopeful of tying up a deal for an un-named Slovakian in the next two weeks.

The Dragons are without a game this weekend and are next in action on the ice when they travel to the improving Hull Jets on Saturday, January 17 (5.30pm), before entertaining Telford Tigers on Sunday, January 25 (6.45pm) at the Deeside Ice Rink.