THE Deeside Dragons snatched their first home win of the season in dramatic style against a visiting Sheffield Senators side.

A dominant opening 40 minutes saw the Dragons head into the final period with a 5-1 lead which became 6-1 when captain James Parsons found the net six seconds after the restart.

But with some supporters questioning how many the Dragons could win by, a late implosion from the hosts saw Sheffield draw level to take the game to overtime.

There, though, James Shaw – who was celebrating his 18th birthday – rose to the occasion and scored his third goal of the evening to eventually seal a win for his team.

Speaking after the game, James’ grandfather, Deeside boss Gary Shaw said: “He (James) had a really good game where he got himself a hat-trick and the winning goal.

“He skates really well and helps out the defence a lot when he’s on the ice. He really deserved today, even though he was left embarrassed by the birthday song before the game.

“We played some good hockey, but we let a 6-1 lead go because we went to get more goals when all we need to do is move the puck around and control the game.

“We should never have let them back into the game, especially with them having a short bench. But they did win the day before (against Telford) with that team, so we knew it would be tough.

“It was a good result which I’m pleased about, but we need to keep working as a unit and keep concentrating for the whole 60 minutes, not just 20 or 40 minutes.

“Some of the players aren’t mentally strong at the moment after a couple of difficult seasons, but they need to start getting over the line and believing in themselves.”

Deeside were dominant from the off against a short-benched Sheffield team who arrived in Flintshire with just ten players.

Following an assured start, Charlie Spridgeon, Radim Reznicek, and Chris Keating all came close to breaking the deadlock before Matthew Wainwright finally found a way past Zack Brown in the Sheffield net as he tapped in from close range after a shot from Cameron Kushnirenko was saved in the 15th minute.

A little over a minute later, a wonderful weaving run from Spridgeon helped James Shaw find the room to get his first of the evening to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead going into the second period.

Truels Lone got Sheffield back into the game 25 seconds into the restart, but with the Senators in the ascendancy, Parsons found Keating who made no mistake in making it 3-1.

Both sides then came close with Bolwell making a number of fine stops as Shaw and Reznicek missed gilt edged chances.

Kusnirenko then intercepted a Sheffield pass in his own defensive zone before racing forward and slamming the puck into the net to make it 4-1 before Reznicek and Shaw made amends for their earlier misses by combining well for the latter to extend Deeside’s lead.

James Parsons then scored six seconds into the third period to put his team 6-1 ahead and seemingly on course for a comfortable victory.

But Sheffield replied instantly with Lone scoring his second of the evening 15 seconds later.

That goal proved to be a catalyst for the Senators as Lone scored two more in the next five minutes to make it 6-4 with 15 minutes to go.

Most of the game was now being played in the Dragons’ defensive zone, and they eventually conceded another when Sam Rodgers found the net in the 57th minute.

Nathan Parkes-Britton then completed the comeback little less than a minute later with a goal to make it 6-6 and take the two sides to overtime.

But following a much-needed interval, Reznicek and Shaw combined yet again for the influential birthday boy to score the all important goal that sealed an overtime success for the Dragons.