DEESIDE DRAGONS claimed their first win in five after snatching an overtime victory in an entertaining clash against Sheffield on Sunday.

Christopher Jones received a controversial match penalty just after the mid-way point of the game, but it was an initiative that the Senators couldn’t capitalise on as the Dragons roared back from two goals behind to claim a crucial comeback win.

Despite being left frustrated with the referee, the result left Deeside’s player-coach Marc Lovell feeling “really pleased.” He says:

“In the first period, we dominated them. Even though we only went in 1-0 up, we had most of the possession in that period.

“We went out a bit flat in the second period, and then all the penalties took away our momentum. They scored, but Alex got a goal to give us a bit of life and keep us in it.

“Then we had a bad start to the third period by conceding early on which took the score to 4-2, but what pleased me most is that we dug deep, stuck together and got the game level again.

“(The refereeing decisions) frustrate me. The problem is the inconsistency as some referees let things go but some don’t, and that’s frustrating.

Alex Parry and Matthew Wainwright combined well before the latter set up Gavin Austin to fire the Dragons into the lead at the end of a tight first period.

The Senators responded soon after the restart, though, as Truels Lone found Nathan Parkes Britton to equalise, before referee Adam Hands controversially handed Deeside’s Christopher Jones a match penalty for boarding and abuse with just under half the game left to play.

Thomas Humphries took advantage less than a minute later by putting his side ahead, before Alex Parry levelled the scores again after 35 minutes despite being a man down.

But Parkes-Britton and Humphries both scored again either side of the third period to give Sheffield a 4-2 lead with less than twenty minutes to go.

While being roared on by the Deeside crowd, though, the Dragons showed the fight that bosses Gary Shaw and Marc Lovell have been looking for in recent weeks.

The experienced returning duo of Marc Lovell and Simon Furnival – who both missed last week’s 9-3 defeat to Bradford – combined to get the puck to James Shaw who slammed it past Sheffield netminder Mark Hartley after 48 minutes to make it 4-3.

Dragons skipper James Parsons, who is currently playing through the pain as he nurses an ankle injury, then slotted home in the final minutes to force the game to overtime.

Netminder Dom Jolly, who ended the game with a save percentage of 91.3 per cent, made a crucial stop on the line before Parsons raced forward to set up Ryan Jones to score the winner, and complete a dramatic turnaround.

Deeside Dragons return to the Den on Sunday March 3 where they will take on the in-form Telford Tigers who recently breezed past Blackburn to continue their winning run.

Coventry Blaze were also too strong for Blackburn on Saturday, while Altrincham Aces were no match for league leaders Widnes Wild.