Deeside Dragons' recent return to form was shortlived as they fell to successive defeats in their weekend fixture double-header.

Sunday evening's 2-1 home defeat to Coventry Blaze followed a 5-2 reverse at Altrincham Aces a day earlier as the Dragons failed to build on their solid start to the campaign.

After falling behind inside the first minute at Altrincham to Jakub Pavlicek's crisp strike, the Dragons rallied and hit back

through Gavin Austin's converted powerplay.

The visitors then took a 26th minute lead when Michael Clancy's neat pass set up Louis Morgan, who slotted home to make it 2-1.

But the Aces took control of the contest with Jared Dickinson netting the equaliser before Pavlicek rifled home his second of the game to restore his side's lead on 6 minutes.

And the hosts turned the screw in the final period with goals from Joe Greaves and Corey Lee capping a convincing win.

The Coventry clash proved a much tighter affair as the Dragons were squeezed out by the visitors in a cagey low-scoring encounter.

An evenly-contested opening period ended goalless, with Blaze attacker Jekabs Bisnieks making the breakthrough on 27 minutes, slotting past Dragons netminder Dom Jolly.

The solitary goal separated the two sides until early in the final period when Jodie-Leigh Bloom doubled the Blaze advantage with a crisp finish.

Skipper James Parsons reduced the deficit with six minutes remaining to set up a tense finale, but the Blaze held firm and closed the game out.

The result kept the Dragons in mid-table, while Coventry closed the gap on the Laidler Conference pacesetters after they beat leaders Bradford Bulldogs 5-2.

Widnes Wild climbed to second after they bounced back from Saturday's 4-2 defeat at Hull Jets by routing Blackburn Hawks in a 22-2 mauling.