After the disapointment of last week's defeat in Hull , Wild returned to home ice on Saturday for the local derby against Deeside Dragons.

Ben Brown, Tom Ratcliffe, Pavel Vales and Nicole Jackson all returned to the side. A big crowd, with a strong visiting support, welcomed the teams.

The game opened in typical'derby' style with both sides looking for an early breakthrough.

Dragons took the first penalty at 1.25 when they took two minutes for hooking as Filip Supa attempted to burst through. At 6.33, the visitors took another two minutes for a charging offence on Supa in front of the team benches. Filip Supa and Lee Pollitt both looked dangerous in attack, both bringing good saves from Compton in the Deeside goal.

As the period drew to a close, Matt Compton made good saves from Supa and Pollitt.

Almost as soon as the second period opened , a Deeside attack saw Ruxton make a fine save from Mitrik.

Within seconds , Deeside had the puck in the net but it was ruled out by the referee. At 25.54, Filip Supa appeared to take a stick to the face and there was a lengthy delay while he recovered. Both netminders made smart saves but at 29.32 Wild took the lead.

When the puck came in low from the right it eluded a defender and top scorer Filip Supa was in front of goal to force the puck into the net. Within three minutes, the scores were level.

Greg Ruxton made a good low save but as the puck rebounded out, Jack Meadows was on hand to fire home for the equaliser.

At 35.03 young Crawshaw skated clear but his goalbound effort was blocked. At 37.35 Lee Pollitt went clear but his shot was saved. The last two minutes saw close shaves at both ends.

Almost from the face off at the start of the third, Sam Dunford skated clear but he lost control of the puck. A minute later Widnes were down to four skaters after Pavel Vales took a 2 minute minor for interference.

Mitrik burst through for Deeside but he took a heavy check from Supa, as he approached the goal. End to end attacking was a feature of a close game.

At 47.37 Matt Compton made a vital save from point blank range from Lee Pollitt. A minute later Bobby Caunce skated through and took a heavy high hit on the boards. Chris Jones took a two minute minor for boarding .

Compton made a further vital save preventing Bez Hughes from scoring. At 53.25 Wild scored what turned out to be the match winning goal.

During a period of Wild pressure, the puck came loose.

A very surprised Dan Bracegirdle gained possession and forced the puck between Matt Compton's pads. The defenceman could hardly conceal his delight at scoring such a vital goal. Widnes were applying constant pressure and only the swift intervention of Compton managed to foil Pollitt and Supa of further goals.

Deeside withdrew their big netminder in a last ditch attempt to force an equaliser and two shots on the empty net, missed by inches.

The final hooter prompted enthusiastic celebrations as the home side completed a 100% record of four victories this season over their local rivals. Lee Pollitt took the MVP for Wild with Mike Jones taking the Dragon's award.