Streatham Redskins pulled off the great escape and avoided National Ice Hockey League One South relegation on Sunday.

Having languished at the bottom of the league for most of the season, Redskins thumped rivals Slough Jets 11-2 in their final game to jump above their opponents on goal difference.

It ensured a happy end to what has been a turbulent season for the club, who had to move rinks half-way through the campaign as their Streatham home was pulled down, and head coach Barry Spours was brimming with pride.

“It seems odd to feel like celebrating coming ninth but it was a huge turnaround and a huge relief after such a stressful season,” he said.

“I have been at teams before where you are bottom of the table and everything falls apart but the guys here didn’t – they kept going and kept together.

“Right at the end you could see they were still a team.

“These challenges either pull you apart or pull you closer together and with us it was the latter.

“I had a feeling when they skated out on the ice that they looked confident and pumped up and were really determined.

“It wasn’t easy at first but slowly but surely we got in the game and when we went 7-2 up, Slough looked liked they had given up.”

Tomas Valko scored a hat-trick on Sunday, Russ Stevens got two and Stevie Balmer, Warren Rost, Adam Mahoney, Jerry Pavlus, Liam Rasmussen and Norman Pinnington were all also on the scoresheet.

But while they took the plaudits at one end, net minder Will Sanderson took them at the other having played through the game with a fractured hand.

“Will hurt his hand in training before the first Slough game in Brixton two weeks ago,” added Spours.

“He went to hospital and they were considering putting a cast on it but he walked out and wanted to play through it.

“We were a bit worried as he hadn’t really trained but he just wanted to make sure he could play and was man of the match without a doubt.”