Deeside Dragons coach Lol Paul is trusting his table–topping side not to over-indulge on festive treats, ahead of Sunday night’s trip to Blackburn Eagles.
The Chester Road men have been given an extra day’s holiday from training on Christmas Eve, as they survey a successful first half of the Laidler Conference season.
Deeside are currently five points clear the top of the standings, with just a single defeat at home to Nottingham Lions blotting their remarkable copybook.
Blackburn, however, have lost just two of their last eight games – and Paul is expecting to face a very different Eagles outfit, following Deeside’s 10-2 win in September.
He said: “We only have one training session this week, so the players have got Christmas Eve off. I’ve laid down the law a little bit, telling them to enjoy Christmas Day, but go easy on Boxing Day. 
“We can’t afford to take our foot off the gas and Blackburn have improved a lot through the season. We had the jump on them at the start, but it will be a different game on Sunday.
“During the summer, we worked a lot of fitness and it helped us to win the first few games quite heavily. I want that to also help us to breeze through the festive season.”
Paul is hoping to use his squad’s fitness to improve on a strike rate that remains a concern – despite a string of heavy wins in recent weeks.
He added: “I am looking for a strike rate of at least one in three from the guys. Last weekend, we had 25 shots in the first period without scoring, although Coventry’s netminder was outstanding.
“I said to the players, that the hard bit is getting in a position to score. You’ve got to escape your marker and find the right place. Hopefully, we’ll start putting them away this weekend.”
Sunday’s game in Blackburn starts at 5.45pm.
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