JAMES SHAW and Radim Reznicek were instrumental as the Deeside Dragons finally overcame their third period jitters in a crucial victory against Altrincham Aces.

The duo claimed seven goals and assists between them as the Flintshire club battled to a 7-5 success in Greater Manchester.

Deeside scored three times in the final period to secure the victory in what was just the second time this season that they have managed to put away more than two in the last 20 minutes.

Dragons player-coach, Marc Lovell, who returned to the side after missing the last two games, said: “We played well and showed a lot of character to keep ourselves in the game and eventually win it.

“It could have gone much worse when we were 2-0 down after three minutes, but Sam (Bolwell) played excellently in goal and the game was probably Radim’s (Reznicek) best since coming here so hopefully he can continue that.

“James (Shaw) has been in good form recently too, and he’s chipped in with some more vital goals. We need to keep with it now and keep playing consistently for the whole 60 minutes in every game.”

The Dragons started disastrously as Sam Dunford fired the hosts ahead after just six seconds before doubling Altrincham’s advantage three minutes later.

But as he has done so many times before, Deeside captain James Parsons led from the front in bringing his team back into it as he set up the returning Radim Reznicek to pull one back.

However, Altrincham’s captain Tom Sharrock restored the Aces’ two goal lead soon into the second period, but once again it was shortlived as Reznicek found James Shaw two minutes later to make it 3-2.

The impressive Reznicek then helped the Dragons level the scoreline when he helped the puck on to Chris Keating who made no mistake in firing past Paul Maudsley.

Deeside then took the lead for the first time in the match when Keating assisted Parsons little after the halfway point in the game.

But Vlads Vulkanovs put the puck beyond the Dragons netminder Samantha Bolwell just four seconds later to make the end to end game evenly poised at 4-4 going into the final period.

Despite finding themselves shorthanded, with Cameron Kushnirenko serving a two-minute penalty, the Dragons took the lead when Matthew Wainwright set up Reznicek for his second goal.

And while Joe Wyatt brought Altrincham level again a little over two minutes later, James Shaw rose to the occasion to score twice in as many minutes for the visitors to seal his hat-trick and give Deeside a 7-5 victory.

The Dragons stay sixth in the division, but now find themselves just a point behind the Aces having played a game less, and within three points of the play-offs with two games in hand.

In the weekend’s only other game in the Laidler Conference, a feisty fixture saw two match penalties and a further 76 penalty minutes handed out as Widnes Wild beat Telford Tigers 9-1.

Last Sunday, meanwhile, second placed Hull Jets enjoyed a crucial 2-1 overtime victory at home to the league leaders Bradford.

While Hull stay second, the result takes them to within a point of the Bulldogs having played one game less.