Deeside Dragons’ Head Coach Lol Paul says his side have taken a further step towards building a ‘fortress Deeside’, following Saturday night’s 9-1 NIHL North Laidler D2 win over Coventry Blaze.
Paul, whose team followed up with an 8-1 victory at Altrincham Aces on Sunday, 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.”
Dragons cemented their status as title favourites with a comfortable victory at Altrincham Aces.
Victory at the Ice Dome was Deeside’s 13th game without defeat and left them with an eight-point lead over second-placed Nottingham Lions.
Paul was delighted with the four-point weekend: “It’s relieving when your team puts that many goals past a team like Altrincham – the lads came out flying and dominated from the start,” he said.
“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.
“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.
“We have got two massive games next weekend against Blackburn Eagles and Nottingham. We’ll go into training hard this week and not take our foot off the gas.”
(Image permission: PSD-Images)
