It was a tough season on the ice for the Streatham Redskins, but head coach Barry Spours is confident their luck is about to turn and they can clamber away from relegation, writes Douglas Elder.

Although Streatham sit bottom of English National Ice Hockey League South One, Spours believes recent performances, which saw them lose narrowly to Romford and Cardiff before a Saturday off last weekend, could prove the catalyst to steer Redskins clear of danger.

“The performances have been encouraging,” he said.

“Although we lost to Cardiff and Romford, those sides are near the top of the league and the losses were by narrow margins.

“On another day, those losses could easily have been victories for us.

“We didn’t play last weekend because of Oxford City Stars pulling out of the league and that was not ideal as we were building up encouraging momentum.”

Redskins have just two wins and two draws from their 22 games this season and are three points behind Slough Jets at the bottom of the league.

To boost their chances of staying up, Spours added six new names to his squad before the transfer deadline this month.

The latest was defenceman Luke Reynolds this week and Spours believes the addition of defensive-minded players will free up his attack to go forward and score.

“By having a stronger defence, we have been less cautious as we don’t need so many players defending,” he said.

“I feel that too many of our attacking players had to help out in our half, and that stopped us scoring.”

This weekend, Redskins face further tough opposition as they play host to second-placed Chelmsford Chieftains on Saturday before facing Invicta Dynamos in Kent the following day.

“Invicta haven’t been too consistent, so we are optimistic we can pick up points there,” added Spours.

“It is the games against the lower ranked sides that will make the difference.

“Bracknell and Slough, in eighth and ninth, have suffered heavy defeats recently, so the momentum is with us.

“I’m confident we can stay up if we keep playing like this.”