Coventry Blaze Head Coach Danny Stewart hailed his team’s character after a battling 3-2 victory over Braehead Clan on Sunday.

Blaze were without Swedish forward Robin Bergman through illness, while Stewart admitted other players had been affected by a bug during last week.

“I’ve bit my tongue the past couple of days over it, but we’ve got a bad sickness running through the camp from the start of the week right the way through,” said Stewart.

“I think we had ten guys puking and coming out the other end as well. Friday we had three of them playing while they were puking – yesterday we had three more and obviously Bergman today.

“(Josh) Godfrey didn’t last the match, (Ashley) Tait got injured and we got short-bodied so that was a gutsy performance by the guys.

“We’re going to give these guys a couple of days off, just to get the sickness out of the room so nobody else gets it.

“I don’t care what anybody else says, it’s a 24-hour bug but it takes you a couple of days to fully recover and get back on your feet.”

(Image permission: Scott Wiggins)