Burns praises fan support

"I think as much as anything it was the crowd that got us over the line," the acting head coach told Bristol Flyers TV.

“We knew it was going to be close and it certainly was - I think the margin flattered us a little bit.

"We were down by eight points a couple of times and we managed to come back. In games like that it’s just about finding a way to win at the end.

"We called a timeout after they hit a couple of tough shots and we just sensed that maybe heads were going down a little bit.

"In the end we wore them down, I’m not really sure we outplayed them, but having the extra guys on the bench just meant that we were a little bit fresher going down the stretch.”

Five players finished in double figures for the Flyers, who were led by a game-high 21 points from Adam Weary off the bench.

New additions Malcolm and Marcus Delpeche also came off the bench to make their Bristol Flyers debuts, having only arrived in the UK earlier in the week.

"They did exactly what I wanted them to do - which was go in, run and rebound,” explained Burns.

"They showed that they’ll be able to play in this league and it was good to get a few minutes into them. I didn’t want to put a lot of pressure on them this week, because we knew with Mike (Vigor) here we had the core of the team.

"We’re really going to need them against Sheffield next week."