DEESIDE DRAGONS have demonstrated their fighting spirit to win the Welsh Cup in dramatic circumstances.
Dragons were struggling early on in their showdown away to Cardiff Fire, but they eventually turned things around to triumph 11-9 on the night and 16-14 on aggregate.
The first leg in Deeside finished up 5-5 and Cardiff Fire made a blazing start to the return contest, building up a four-goal advantage in the first period.
Deeside assistant head coach Matt Compton said: “I looked at (head coach) Mike (Clancy) and said ‘what’s happening?’ We were not ready to start. Whether it was the long journey or not, we’ve done that a few times.”
Dragons required a response and it came from Jakub Hajek with nine minutes of that first period remaining.
Ross Kennedy added another before the first interval and it was game on again.
Another from Kennedy and MJ Clancy’s first goal of the season soon tied things up, while Kennedy completed his hat-trick to hand the visitors the lead for the first time on the night.
Fire then made it five-all, however Hajek’s second of the night made sure Dragons had a slender lead to take into the closing period.
An all-action third period would see nine goals, with five of them going to the Dragons.
Kennedy added another to finish with four for the evening, while he was joined on the scoresheet by James Parsons, Matt Wainwright and MVP Hajek, who also claimed four goals on the night.
“With possession, we definitely dominated,” added Compton. “We went there for the trophy and we came back with the trophy. We had some good performances.”
Deeside Ducks had a rollercoaster weekend, seeing their away game against the Kingston Sharks abandoned after the first period on Saturday but then picking up their first ever win with a 4-3 victory at home to Sheffield Titans on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.
At Hull, the home side had taken the lead in the second minute and led 5-0 by the interval.
However, the surface of the ice was damaged during the routine ice cleaning operation between periods and it took over an hour for the rink staff to plug up the resulting hole and get the ice to freeze properly again.
With the amount of time lost - and concerns about player safety - the match was called off.
Two goals from Kieran Clarkson, one from Cody Ogden and a short-handed winner from captain Chris Jones with 14 minutes left to play secured the historic first ever league win for the Ducks on Sunday.
Division One North results: Sheffield 1 Nottingham 4; Billingham 8 Sheffield 2; Blackburn 5 Solihull 3; Whitley 2 Hull 3 (overtime); Widnes 2 Leeds 7.
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