BRACKNELL Bees captain Matt Foord said last weekend’s two wins should increase confidence in the camp ahead of a particularly tough programme ahead, writes Dave Wright.

Bees defeated Invicta Dynamo 5-1 at home on Saturday before winning by the same margin at Cardiff Fire on Sunday.

It was their first four-point NIHL Division One South weekend for three months when they defeated the same two opponents.

“Yes, they are the bottom two sides in the league, but they are still not easy to beat as they are battling hard to improve their position,” said Foord.

“Hopefully, the wins will give the whole squad confidence as we have some tough games coming up.”

This coming weekend the fifth-placed Bees will be up against the sides lying second and third, Peterborough Phantoms away on Saturday and Swindon Wildcats at home on Sunday.

“We will need to step up against them, but we have done it in the past and hopefully we can do it again,” added Foord.

Bees should be back to full strength for the clash with Wildcats, with Callum Best returning after a break and Frankie Bakrlik after suspension.

Bakrlik missed the trip to Cardiff due to an accumulation of penalty points, having picked up a total of 14 against Invicta with 10 coming for “abuse” at the end of the game.

Just seconds after the puck had been dropped for the start of the match, Bakrlik and Mason Webster, squared up to each other.

It followed the incident between them in November which led to the Czech receiving a six-match suspension for his check to the head which saw Webster needing hospital treatment.

This time the pair were quickly parted by match officials, both getting two-plus-two penalties.

Bees took the lead on 02:28 through Danny Ingoldsby with Ben Ealey-Newman providing the assist.

Another scuffle broke out in the 12th minute with Harvey Stead trading blows with Brandon Webster.

Bees doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark through James Galazzi with Tom Avery credited with the assist.

They dominated the middle period and Alex Barker made it 3-0 on 33:38 with the fourth following early in the third stanza thanks to Shaun Thompson.

Bees gave away a penalty shot, which Webster wasted by shooting over the bar, before Carl Thompson deflected in Josh Martin’s shot to make it 5-0 in the 49th minute.

Home net-minder Alex Mettam’s hopes of keeping a clean sheet were dashed when Scott Bailey netted a consolation goal for the visitors on 54:36.

Barker was voted Bees’ man-of-the-match.

In total, Bracknell out-shot their visitors 40-23, while it was a much bigger margin in Cardiff of 54-25.

Bees would have won even more emphatically, but for the heroics of home net-minder Jordan Lawday.

Ben Ealey-Newman, who had scored in his side’s 8-1 home win over the Welsh club in November, doubled his personal tally when opening the scoring in the eighth minute.

Galazzi made it 2-0 just before the 27th-minute mark, only for winless Cardiff to quickly halve their deficit through Jackson Price.

But Bees dominated the third period and increased their advantage thanks to Galazzi (43:04), Shaun Thompson (54:09) and Jan Bendik (58:27), the latter seeing Ingoldsby credited with his third assist of the match.

Galazzi, who had been a close contender on Saturday, was voted Bees’s best player.

Six-year-old spectator Poppy Shea needed hospital treatment for a badly gashed forehead after being struck by the puck when it was accidentally deflected into the crowd during Saturday’s match.

Bees director Carol Miller said the club will discuss safety matters and appropriate seating for children with the John Nike Leisuresport Complex management.

Warnings to fans to “keep an eye on the puck at all times” are made over the public address system during matches.