Bracknell's Tom Duggan scored a late empty-net goal to seal the win

An empty-net goal from Tom Duggan made sure of a derby victory for Bracknell over local rivals Slough on Sunday.

Matt Foord put the Bees ahead at the Hive with eight minutes gone, then Duggan doubled the advantage.

But Jets were level by the end of the first period through goals from Kevin Phillips and Michael Bowman.

Peter Jasik handed the Bees the lead in the second period, before Duggan's empty-net short-handed strike sealed the win with 45 seconds remaining.

The well-attended encounter proved a scrappy but entertaining affair as both sides, fresh from Saturday defeats, sought to earn valuable points in a tightly-contested English Premier League.

EMPTY-NET GOALS In ice hockey, teams can replace their goaltender with an extra attacker The move gives the team six attackers to their opponents' five plus goaltender, but leaves their net unguarded The tactic is only ever used by the losing team in the final moments of a close game Goals scored against a team employing this tactic are recorded as empty-net (EN) strikes

"We played hard, it was a battle and it's just one of those games typical games against Bracknell," said Slough player-coach Steve Moria.

"It comes down to breaks and bounces. I thought we had the majority of play in terms of puck possession and scoring opportunities but we didn't capitalise on as many as we wanted to.

"Two goals is not enough, giving up three and the empty-netter was the difference. In the second and third periods I thought we outplayed Bracknell.

"Sometimes you want things to work out and they don't. Rockman had a pretty good hockey game and was big in their net, and we didn't get by him enough."

However, Moria insisted he remained upbeat about his team's start to the season, with Slough fifth in the 10-team Premier League, a point ahead of sixth-placed Bracknell.

"To be honest I think we're doing very, very well," Moria told BBC Sport.

"When we play our best games we always win, so we know we can win hockey games against any team as long as we played well. Tonight we played well but didn't get the breaks."

Bees coach Adam Bicknell admitted his team rode their luck, but said he felt his side were overdue the rub of the green.

"It could have gone either way, there were lots of chances and that's the way it is this year," said Bicknell.

"I wouldn't say we overly deserved it. We took our chances and they maybe could have buried theirs. It's always nice to get the result going your way for a change.

"We needed that. The performances are getting better - it's taken a third of the season to get going, the league's a lot closer, and we're getting there.

"We've added new players, the league's more challenging, and we've had a few employees go separate ways. We're trying to find that chemistry."

Bicknell's latest signing, Czech Republic forward Roman Kelner, made his home debut in the win, but his coach said fans should be patient with the 33-year-old, who has not played competitive hockey for two years.

"He's still a little bit rusty - by his own admission, it's going to take him two or three weeks - but he's a classy player and a welcome addition," said Bicknell.

"I don't know if he's going to be the solution [to Bracknell's goalscoring problems] but he's going to give other players around him a bit more room and take some weight off their shoulders. They can relax and concentrate on scoring."

Bracknell lost 3-2 at Swindon on Saturday while Slough went down 5-3 at home to Sheffield Scimitars, a result about which Moria was scathing of his own side.

"Against Sheffield we were horrible, we played very badly and deservedly lost," he said.

"I haven't seen us play that poorly in a long time, we deserved to lose. For whatever reason that was - preparation, execution - things didn't go well."

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