Deeside Dragons player-coach Steve Fellows praised his squad for their attitude in turning around their season and challenged them to maintain their impressive form for the final two games of the Laidler Conference season.

After losing the first five games of the season the Dragons then endured a miserable December and January, winning once in seven matches.

But after battling their way to an 8-8 draw with Telford Tigers at the beginning of February, the Dragons have seen a major upturn in form on the ice, with two of their three defeats coming by just a single goal to unbeaten league leaders Solihull Barons.

They continued their good form at the weekend with a 7-4 win at Bradford Bulldogs on Saturday and an 8-2 home success over Coventry Blaze on Sunday night.

“I think the problem we had was that some of the guys were invested in what we were trying to do towards the end of the year and at the beginning of January, but that has all changed now and everyone is on board,” said Fellows.

“We had to cope with losing the likes of Shaun Kippin, Ben Simister and Jordan Bannon at the start of this season and Sam Krempasky has been sidelined with a knee injury for a long while.

“It has been tough but the draw at Telford was a real turning point for us and we found our belief and rhythm on the ice again and we have kicked on since then.

“A club of this size needs to be challenging for the play-offs but this season has very much been a year of transition for us.

“The wins at the weekend were a big plus as we’d targeted a four-point weekend and now we want to finish the season on a high note.”

Jack Meadows (2), Paul Davies (2), Tomas Mitrik and Gavin Austin were all on target in the win over Bradford while on Sunday, Davies hit a hat-trick and there was a brace for Chris Jones and solo strikes for James Parsons, Simon Furnival and Slovakian Mitrik, who was singled out for praise by Fellows.

“Tomas has been a real asset for us since he has come in,” said Fellows.

“His energy on the ice and willingness to put the gloves down has been a big boost.”

“We had been playing without an import for much of the season and since Tomas has come in he has helped give us another dimension.”

The Dragons, who sit fifth in the league, are without a game this weekend and round off their Laidler Conference campaign with two games the following weekend.

On Saturday, March 28, they travel to Blackburn Eagles (5.45pm) before hosting Sheffield Senators on the Sunday (6.45pm).