Steve Fellows says the end of the season has come too soon for his resurgent Deeside Dragons after they rounded off their topsy-turvy Laidler Conference campaign with back-to-back wins.
Saturday’s 4-3 win at Blackburn Eagles was followed up with a stunning 13-2 home success over third-placed Sheffield Senators to put the gloss on a four-point weekend for player-coach Fellows’ men.
It was the fourth win on the bounce for the Dragons to finish the season after they began the campaign with a dismal run of five defeats.
“It is frustrating to have to finish the season now and it has come too soon for us in all honesty,” said Fellows.
“It’s come at the wrong time for us and even the fans were saying that on Sunday. They were wondering why we couldn’t have played like we have been in recent weeks at the start of the season.
“We’ve had to cope with a lot this season but it is a good footing for us to end it on a high and it bodes well for next season.”
At Blackburn the Dragons raced into a 3-0 lead in the first period thanks to a Chris Jones brace and one from Jack Meadows.
James Parsons made it 4-1 but they allowed the hosts back into the contest and had to survive a late comeback to hold on.
There was no such complacency on Sunday in front of a 600-plus crowd at the Deeside Ice Rink as they once again raced into a 3-0 lead in the first quarter before a clinical performance in front of goal saw them take an unassailable 10-0 lead before Sheffield hit the net.
Parsons, Aled Roberts, Marc Lovell and Gavin Austin all found the target for the Dragons while there were also solo efforts from Ross Kennedy, Bryn Roberts, in his final game for the club before returning to Canada, Jones and Paul Davies to seal a memorable success.
Fellows is now hoping he will be able to keep the nucleus of his squad and avoid the loss of players that hampered the start of this campaign, but confirmed young prospect Jack Meadows would be departing due to him beginning a course at the University of Birmingham.
“Hopefully we can get guys to commit early and we can add to the squad in the off-season and make sure we are ready to give it a good go next time around,” added Fellows.
