Despite twice leading during the second period, it took a Ben Davies goal with five minutes remaining to earn the Devils a point and send the game into overtime.

After a goalless first period, it took a moment of magic from Jeff Pierce to finally break the deadlock in the 32^nd minute. With the puck deflected up into the air, Pierce carefully followed its flight before spectacularly volleying it into the net at the far post.

Having been fairly tense and low-key for the first 30 minutes, the game finally burst into life. First Phil Hill went to the bin for tripping, and then straight after the resulting face-off Chris Frank was thrown out of the game with a match penalty for Checking from Behind.

It gave Braehead a 5-on-3 powerplay and having initially defended well, a missed opportunity to clear the zone allowed the Clan to regain control and Mike Bayrack powered in a slapshot from just inside the blueline.

Frank’s five minute penalty meant the Devils still faced over three minutes a man down, but it didn’t stop them retaking the lead. Max Birbraer collected the puck off Mark Richardson and broke down the right wing. With Stuart MacRae joining him to create a 2-on-1, Birbraer looked ready to pass to his teammate before a quick fake and deke got him past the last defenceman and his powerful shot gave Braehead netminder Jaakko Suomalainen no chance.

Cardiff continued to look dangerous short-handed, and thought they had scored a third a minute later. A long clearance down the ice took a big deflection off the board into the middle of the Braehead zone, allowing Stuart MacRae to get to the puck first and shoot it through the netminders pads only for the linesman to blow up for offside.

It meant the face-off went back into the Cardiff zone, and when the puck deflected into Bayrack’s path he one-timed it past Stevie Lyle.

Tied at 2-2 going into the third period, Braehead took the lead for the first time in the game within a minute of the restart. A nice one-touch passing move involving Jade Galbraith and Brock McPherson resulted in Bayrack getting the puck in space and he calmly fired it into the net to complete his hat trick.

Down to just 4 defencemen and having travelled to and from Belfast the Devils were starting to look tired. With only 8 imports remaining it was time for the Brits to step up and with five minutes remaining they did just that. Mark Richardson’s perfectly timed past set Sam Smith free down the right wing and his centred pass found Ben Davies who took one touch before firing it in for the equaliser.

In the final minutes it was Braehead pushing for the regulation winner but Lyle once again produced a series of good saves to send the game into overtime.

In a reversal of the end of regulation, the Devils created chance after chance in overtime as they looked for the extra point. Scott Matzka came closest for the home side, when his quick swipe at his own rebound looked destined for the unguarded the night only to slide agonisingly wide.

It looked like the game would be decided by penalty shots, but with just 30 seconds remaining a lapse of concentration by Cardiff in their own zone presented the puck to Tim Wedderburn and his slapshot flew in for the winner to send the travelling Braehead fans onto the feet with delight.