Braehead Clan enjoyed mixed fortunes in the EIHL over the weekend but head coach John Tripp declared himself happy with the performance of his team.

The Glasgow team had a double-header away to Manchester Storm, and with former Clan head coach Ryan Finnerty now at the helm at Manchester, the games had that bit extra significance. Braehead recorded a storming victory, coming from behind twice to ultimately win 4-3 with Robbie Lepine scoring the winner.

However, Manchester exacted revenge on Sunday, putting in a much improved performance to claim a 5-2 win. But Tripp was happy with his team's performance, particularly coming off the back of a disappointing defeat against Dundee Stars the previous weekend. “We played well,” the Canadian said in assessing the two matches. “At the end of the second period (on Sunday), we lapsed and allowed two goals in with only two minutes left of the period and that’s a big no-no. But overall, the players played really well. We’ve definitely improved since our game in Dundee so that’s nice to see.”

As with so many of the EIHL matches, the margin between winning and losing is incredibly fine and while Tripp was pleased at the level of consistency shown by his players over the two matches, he knows that at this level, even the smallest mistake will be punished. “We were consistent this weekend – we just made a couple of mistakes but it’s a game of inches,” he said. “When it’s such a tight game, it comes down to who’s going to make a mistake and who’s going to capitalise on it. We had our chances but our power-play wasn’t that good this weekend - we need more shots and that’s been something that we’ve been working on all year. So back to the drawing board with that.”

One major positive that cam out of the weekend though was the support of Braehead’s travelling supporters, and Tripp could not have been more complimentary of the ‘Purple Army’. “They gave us great support,” he said. “To get the win on Saturday with everybody there was a good feeling and on Sunday they supported us the whole game too. It’s always nice to have the fans behind us.”