THE Deeside Dragons twice blew leads against the top two teams in the NIHL Laidler Conference to ultimately come away with nothing from their weekend double header.

After going ahead inside the first minute in Hull, the Dragons looked set to avenge last week’s 9-1 thrashing against the same opposition.

But the Jets struck back to claim a 4-1 victory, while it was a similar story a day later when the Flintshire club hosted top of the table Bradford Bulldogs at the Den.

The Dragons took another early lead and pushed for a second throughout the game but found Bradford netminder Ian Thirkettle in just as fine form as their own Michael Rogers.

Despite having 47 shots against the league leaders, the Dragons were eventually beaten by two late goals in quick succession in the final period.

Speaking after their tough weekend, Deeside boss Gary Shaw said: “The results didn’t reflect on the performances we put in because we were very good in both games.

“We held Hull off really well but in the end, they capitalised on the powerplays where they scored three goals. Their goalkeeper (Dean Bowater) was superb too, he’s among the best in the league and we couldn’t get past him.

“Against Bradford, we just couldn’t get the puck in the net. Both goalies were on top form and dominated the game with their numerous saves.

“But there was a massive improvement between last weekend’s game (a 9-1 defeat to Hull) and the game against Bradford, and that’s a positive for us to take.

“Michael (Rogers) is raw at the moment because he’s only been playing the last couple of years and this is his first proper year at senior level.

“He made some unbelievable saves over the weekend, including ones where he had no right to. And those two games will only boost his confidence going forward. “

Billy Perks set up Chris Keating to put the Dragons ahead after just 55 seconds in Hull with his 12th strike of the season.

Michael Rogers, playing as a netminder in the absence of Samantha Bolwell who was ruled out with concussion, then made a number of good saves throughout the rest of the first period to keep Deeside’s lead intact.

But his resistance was finally broken five minutes after the restart with the Dragons being made to pay for Perks’ two-minute penalty which had them a player down on the ice.

With Perks out, Hull’s Kieran Beach and Richard Haggar combined with one another before the latter worked the puck on to Jay Robinson to equalise.

The Jets then took control of the game with two goals in the space of 57 seconds towards the end of the second period.

Gowan Beddoes put the hosts ahead before Haggar’s second of the game doubled Hull’s lead less than a minute later. Dan Hackford then sealed a 4-1 win as he scored a fourth in the second minute of the final period.

Deeside also took a first period lead against Bradford on Sunday, with the in-form Chris Keating working the puck on to a returning Simon Furnival who fed it to his captain James Parsons who made no mistake in firing in his 20th goal of the campaign after 10 minutes.

Rogers was impressive again as he kept out the Bulldogs on 17 occasions in that opening 20 minutes to keep his team ahead.

He then had less work to do in the second period as it was the home team who looked more likely to score a second if not for Bradford’s netminder, Ian Thirkettle who made 19 saves.

Deeside’s wastefulness was then punished as Rogers’ resistance was once again broken while the Dragons had four players on the ice.

With Furnival in the penalty box for two minutes, Joshua Stockton struck an equaliser with 15 minutes to go, before Dean Boothroyd scored what proved to be the winner four minutes later.

The Dragons pushed to take the game to overtime but once again found Thirkettle in fine form as he denied them a further 16 times to help Bradford to the win.

Those defeats against Hull and Bradford leave the Dragons fourth in the league, level on points with Sheffield despite having played three games more.

The Flintshire club now return to action in the New Year when they host local rivals Widnes Wild, who cancelled their scheduled weekend game against Hull following a 9-0 loss against Sutton Sting in the EIHA Association Midland Cup on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the Laidler Conference, Telford Tigers thrashed Blackburn Hawks 27-0 to move within two points of the Dragons.