Guildford boss Paul Dixon wants improvements from his team despite Flames collecting three points out of a possible four on the opening weekend of the EPL season.

Flames started the campaign with a 4-3 win at Swindon Wildcats, but followed up with a 5-4 overtime defeat at home to MK Lightning.

Dixon said: “You always want to get yourself out of the gate with a couple of points. One notable concern we would have about the first match was that we spent far too much time in the penalty box.

“Swindon were on the powerplay for close to three-quarters of a period total and they have a speedy, skilled team.

“They got a pair of goals while working with an extra skater, but they are capable of even more damage in those situations so they really highlighted our necessity to make an effort to play more of the game 5-on-5.

“Sunday was not a good showing by us, and whilst we managed to get our penalties down to manageable figures, our 5-on-5 play was not at all acceptable.

“We played about six minutes of good hockey in total, and we have to be much better than that going forward.

“We feel very fortunate and very pleased to have come out of it with a table point, but that does not mask the things we need to tend to, and we will look to training this week in our efforts to improve where we are at early in the season.”

(Image permission: John Uwins)