Tripp welcomes timely points

BRAEHEAD CLAN put in an impressive performance mid-week with a 7-2 Elite Ice Hockey League victory over Edinburgh Capitals with Brendan Brooks scoring a hat-trick.

However, Braehead did not do things the easy way, going a goal down after only 52 seconds following a Mike Cazolla strike.

The Clan fought their way back into it though, equalising after 13 minutes with Brooks’ first goal of the night.

Braehead then eased through the gears to move ahead en route to a comfortable victory and with the EIHL coming to the business-end of the season, Clan head coach John Tripp admitted that it was a timely victory.

“Two points is always nice, especially this late in the season,” he said.

“It’s never easy playing against Edinburgh but we did very well. It’s not always about how they play – it’s always about how you play and we just wanted to stick within our system and if things get hairy, just hit the reset button and stick to the plan.”

The Edinburgh win was Braehead’s second consecutive victory which, with only half a dozen games left of the season and Braehead still clinging on to hopes of making the play-offs, they must continue this winning run.

The games are coming thick and fast though, with the Glasgow side up against third-placed Belfast Giants in Ireland on Saturday before second-placed Manchester Storm at home on Sunday.

“The confidence is good after Sheffield but this [Edinburgh game] was an expected win,” he said. “We’re going in the right direction but this weekend will be a big test against Belfast and Manchester.

“It’s going to be a big turnaround coming back to here to play Manchester. However we know what is at stake here, we need to remain focused on the end goal which is qualifying for the playoffs so we just need to keeping winning games like that.”