BRAEHEAD CLAN kept up their title push with a rousing 5-2 hammering of Belfast Giants.

Having gone down 6-1 in Northern Ireland the previous night, Ryan Finnerty's men roared back to winning ways in front of a sold-out Braehead Arena crowd of 3,527 to move within a point of top team Sheffield Steelers.

The first period was a tame affair with little action of note at either end.

However, Clan came out much more purposeful in the second as Derek Roehl struck the Belfast upright with a quick snapshot.

Just a minute later the game burst into life thanks to a clash between Giants' David Phillips and Clan's Tristan Harper, which saw the pair serve penalties for a frantic punch-up.

Braehead continued to press with Chris Frank's wraparound shot just being stopped.

However, it wasn't long before the opener arrived. With Clan on a power play, Lee Esders popped up to poke the puck underneath Carsen Chubak from the edge of the crease with 10 to go before the break.

Thirty seconds later it was two. Ben Davies played a stunning cutback across goal to Harper, who rifled a first-time rocket high into the net from six yards.

Braehead weren't anywhere near finished, with their third goal in under three minutes coming in comical circumstances.

A Giants player lost possession as a result of falling on his backside, allowing Stefan Meyer to race in on goal and cut back for Matt Keith to tap in.

That margin was cut soon after though, Mike Kompon rounding Kyle Jones to give Belfast hope for the final period.

It was to prove unfounded. With 13 minutes left to play in the match, Meyer wrapped things up as he poked home a close-range rebound from a Leigh Salters shot.

Belfast were to get a consolation with a minute to go through Kompom on the power play, but it was too little, too late.

And just 20 seconds later, Clan restored the winning margin, with Meyer slotting into an unguarded net as Giants pushed for a third.