Guildford Flames’ Head Coach Paul Dixon was relieved to see his team avoid a final day showdown in the EPL play-off group stage over the weekend.

Michal Satek’s third period goal secured a 2-1 win for Guildford at Sheffield Steeldogs on Friday – a result which guaranteed their place at Coventry.

Sunday’s 5-2 victory over Peterborough Phantoms left the Flames with 11 points out of a possible 12 in Group A and left Dixon eagerly anticipating a semi-final clash with MK Lightning.

“It was obviously a crucial game at Sheffield in terms of securing a berth at Coventry,” said Dixon.

“It is amazing what a difference that one third period goal, the winner, made in terms of where we were at.

“Failure to capture that game, and the way things went on Saturday for other teams, would have had us in a must-win game at home on Sunday against Peterborough in the final group round match.

“As exciting as that might have been, you never want to put your advancement hopes on the back of a one game showdown where anything can happen.

“As it turned out we won the game anyway, and now we have to credit this team for putting in an unbelievable six game group round package.

“It was a stretch of success we had not really achieved all season, against some high quality teams, so good for all of them for their delivery so far in the post-season.

“We are looking forward to getting to Coventry to see if we can complete a full defence of our play-off title.”