RYAN FINNERTY hailed the resolve of his Braehead Clan players after they finished a marathon weekend with a win in the EIHL play-off final third-place tie.

Just 15 hours after they lost out 3-2 to Sheffield Steelers in Saturday night's semi-final in Nottingham, the Glasgow club took to the ice again yesterday in an all-Scottish dust-up with rivals the Fife Flyers.

It looked like Clan were going to end the weekend with two losses from two games as they sat 4-0 down midway through the second period.

However, an astonishing rally - including six straight goals - eventually saw the game go to overtime where Ed McGrane popped up to win the tie 7-6 and seal third spot for Finnerty's men, with Steelers beating Belfast Giants 3-2 in last night's grand final.

And the Braehead coach paid tribute to the spirit of his team who battled against the Kirkcaldy outfit on the back of a draining tie with Sheffield.

He said: "You have to be mindful that fans pay money to watch you and you want to put on a performance. But sometimes people don't understand how mentally and physically draining it can be.

"It's tough when you are playing all year to get to this spot and it's taken away from you then then you have to get up 12 hours later and do it again for not a whole lot.

"In the last two minutes the guys went pretty hard as they didn't want the game to go to overtime. I thought the guys had a bit of fun with it, though."

Clan had high hopes of crowning their first ever appearance in the finals weekend at the National Ice Centre with a trophy win, with the Glasgow team sailing past Nottingham Panthers 9-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.

A Neil Trimm goal had put Clan ahead after just three minutes in the last-four clash with Sheffield, however it was not to be as Ash Goldie's strike in the second period was cancelled out with three goals at the other end.

Given that when Finnerty took over this time last year he had only a handful of players at his disposal, it is astonishing that Clan managed to manoeuvre themselves into a position where they had a shot at the play-offs, let alone finish third.

And the Canadian reckons this is just the start of his legacy at Braehead.

"It's been a long year and we've gone through a lot," added Finnerty. "We've definitely started something here at Braehead.

"It would have been nice to get into the final and have a crack at the trophy but there's nothing we're going to hang our heads about.

"The guys should be proud of themselves in that dressing room and we'll build from here."