Clanstillin the game after late victory

Jason Morgan breathed a huge sigh of relief after Glasgow Clan kept their season alive with a dramatic overtime victory.

A crucial goal from Matt Barry earned the Purple Army a precious 3-2 win over Nottingham Panthers on Monday night.

It was must-win for Clan in the East Midlands following a dire weekend which saw them lose twice by a combined aggregate score of 10-1.

But they put those losses behind them to edge past Panthers whose hopes of finishing in the Elite

League’s top eight are pretty much extinguished.

“It was pretty much a do-or-die game for us,”head coach Morgan, above, said. “We’ve got a couple of tough opponents left and it was crucial we came out with two points.

“Credit to the guys. I thought we played very well in the first period and we carried that over into the second and got in front.

“But they’re a really good hockey team, they have a lot of speed and skill, and they tied it up. For their second goal, I thought there was too many men on the ice but apparently not.

“We had two big penalty kills then tied it up and obviously we’ve had a lot of experience in overtime this year.

“Matt’s been battling for us ever since he arrived and it was nice for him to get credit [for the winning goal].

“It was a must-win for us and the guys found a way.”

Luke Lynch opened the scoring for Clan but Panthers roared back with Joe Hazeldine equalising and Jordan Kelsall making it 2-1 with the goal Morgan felt was controversial.

However, the Braehead Arena men forced overtime through Philippe Sanche with Barry popping up to strike a vital winner.

Clan occupied the eighth and final play-off place ahead of last night’s games but knew Coventry Blaze would leapfrog them with a win over Manchester Storm.