BRAEHEAD CLAN had their best weekend of the season, claiming two victories and four points in a much needed confidence boost for the players. On Saturday, Braehead secured a narrow 3-2 away win over Dundee Stars before following that up with another single goal victory on Sunday, a 1-0 home defeat of Milton Keynes Lightning.

After a poor run of results in October which saw the Glasgow side win only one of seven matches, head coach John Tripp is pleased to see the turnaround in fortunes. “It was a good confidence builder for the players – it’s out first four point weekend which is nice,” the Canadian said. “We earned it – we did the right things, we stuck to the system and a big factor was the execution.”

Tyler Scofield scored the winner against both Dundee and Milton Keynes and Tripp admits to being delighted about the Canadian’s performance. “He’s a big guy and he has a big heart,” he said. “He plays at a fast pace – he’s probably one of the fastest players in the league so it’s hard to find anyone to keep up with him. He’s a smart player and that’s why we brought him here.”

Between the pipes was Gary Russell, who was standing in for regular netminder Ryan Nie and the Scot put in a strong performance. “He was solid,” said Tripp. “What was nice was that the players backed him really well. It’s a good feeling knowing that you can put anyone in and the player are going to play hard. He doesn’t get a lot of games but it doesn’t matter if you get a lot of games or only a few, it’s a special thing.”

Tripp is hopeful that the weekend’s back-to-back victories can provide a springboard for a move up the table and can help them move out of the bottom four, where they currently lie. “We’re getting some points and we’re building up a little bit more consistency but we still have a long way to go,” he said. “We still have a lot of things to work on – things like cutting down on turnovers and some small mistakes but nonetheless it’s the right direction. You’ve got to stay hungry and you can never ease up on the gas pedal. There’s some seeds of success and once you see that, that’s good. We had a vision and the guys are starting to believe in it. There was a good feeling on the bench and the guys are playing for each other, which is nice.”