A GOOD battle with Billingham - that’s what we had at the weekend, and I’m glad to say we came out on top.

The margin of victory was narrow, winning 3-2 in the end, but I wouldn’t say there was a time when we felt like we were under threat or not in control of the game.

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They put pressure on us in the first period a little bit but at their place that’s probably to be expected. We weathered the storm and got ourselves in front, but they came back quickly to go into the break at 1-1.

We stepped it up in the second period and were largely the better team, having plenty of the puck and creating a lot of chances, taking two of them.

As things turned out, I scored the decisive goal. That’s not something I can say very often, so it was good to have such a role in such a big win after they had a lucky bounce to make it 3-2. Luke Brittle got the first and Dan MacKriel scored the second.

I wouldn’t say it was a nervy ending, but in the circumstances the result is a good indicator of our character again.

We’ve won with decent scores in the last few games but we knew this was going to be a tough one. With us being top of the league it’s even more incentive for teams like Billingham to want to beat us. We are there to be shot at by our rivals.

But this is the business end of the season and we were able to knuckle down and get the two points that we wanted.

It’s a quick turnaround as we are back in Billingham next Sunday, after playing Whitley Warriors at home the day before.

Whitley only just beat Manchester Minotaurs this weekend, so I’m not too sure what’s happening with them. Nevertheless, it’s another big weekend for us and we can’t just write them off.

Billingham have home advantage again so that makes it a bit tougher for us. They will want to give us another good game.

But I don’t think we were at our absolute best on Sunday night. I think we have more to offer.

Jake Nurse put another good performance in again following his comeback from injury, and he’s only going to get better.