THE Deeside Dragons head to Telford on Saturday looking to build upon their stunning recent success over Sheffield.

Deeside claimed their first home win of the season in extraordinary fashion as the Dragons blew a 6-1 lead in the third period against the Senators before eventually snatching a 7-6 victory in overtime.

Now, the Flintshire club will travel to Shropshire to face their fierce rivals again, after they got the better of them in Deeside’s heaviest defeat of the season so far back in September.

Telford prevailed 6-1 at the Den that evening, on a night where the police were called as tensions between the two sides spilled over when a volunteer match official was struck by Tigers player.

Telford’s Connor Keyes and Deeside’s Alex Parry were both handed match penalties in that fixture for fighting towards the end of the second period with Telford 3-1 up.

But the Dragons have been boosted by the fact that the influential Parry has now served his four-game suspension and is eligible to return to the team in time for the grudge match.

Speaking ahead of the clash, though, Dragons boss Gary Shaw insists his team need to be more vocal on the ice if they are to have any chance of coming away with a win.

He said: “It’s very quiet on the ice at the moment, maybe too quiet. We need to be communicating between ourselves, not just on the bench but on the ice too.

“That’ll be a big help for us because we need to be working as a unit. Back in my day, everyone was shouting out on the ice and we need a little more of that.

“We played them in pre-season at their rink and held them (to a 3-3 draw), and we know we can beat them because we did last year.

“We know how they’re going to box up, so we’ve prepared to take that advantage away from them.

“They’re struggling a bit too, so it’ll be a close game. If we get the first goal and build on it, that’ll be good. But if they go ahead first and leave us playing catch up it’ll be more difficult.”

Along with Alex Parry, the Dragons player-coach Marc Lovell is also set to return to the team after missing the game with Sheffield.

Shaw added: “Having Marc and Alex back will be a big boost for us.

“Marc has a great knowledge of the game and is a calming influence on the team, and Alex is a big, physical player.

“He’s been missed over the last four games because he’s got great hands and he can put the puck in the net.”

Elsewhere in the Laidler Conference, top of the table Bradford welcome Altrincham Aces, while third placed Sheffield host a Hull side who are currently second.

The Bulldogs then travel to Hull on Sunday to complete what could be a crucial weekend at the top of the league.