Everyone Active Raiders captain Aaron Connolly admitted to a great sense of relief after securing back-to-back wins over Bristol Pitbulls last weekend.

Raiders had lost seven matches in a row in the National League to drop to the bottom of the table, but they came out on top in their double-header basement battle to climb above their rivals.

Goalie Adam Long was drafted in from Guildford Flames in the absence of Ethan James and Brad Windebank and Jake Sylvester and Riley MacRae answered Bristol goals in the opening period, before Adam Laishram put Raiders ahead just past the midway mark.

But Tanner Butler's brace put the hosts 4-3 up after 40 minutes, before Raiders netted four unanswered goals in the final period.

George Norcliffe's powerplay goal levelled matters, with MacRae and Mikey Power netting less than two minutes apart to make it 6-3.

And Coy Prevost added a late powerplay goal to ensure a happy trip back to Romford, before Raiders romped to a 12-4 win at the Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre on Sunday.

Laishram's early opener was soon cut out as the Pitbulls struck twice in the space of three minutes.

Norcliffe, Sylvester and MacRae then scored in a 2.41 span to put Raiders 4-2 up, before Bristol netted the seventh goal of the opening frame.

Raiders pulled clear in the middle stanza, as Norcliffe, Zack Milton, Connolly, Laishram (2) and Sylvester took them into double figures.

And further goals from Power and Brandon Ayliffe sandwiched a Bristol reply in the final period to bring up a dozen for Raiders for the first time since February 2013, when they beat Oxford City Stars 18-1 in a league cup game at the old Rom Valley Way rink.

"It was great to get back to winning ways after what has been a very tough patch for us and we certainly did it in style on Sunday scoring 12 goals," said Connolly, who made his 250th appearance for the club and netted his 150th goal.

"A special mention to Adam Long who stepped in for us in goal as both Ethan and Brad got injured in the same game the week before.

"Hopefully they will both return soon, but Adam did a cracking job this weekend."

Laishram finished with eight points in Sunday's match, while Milton added six assists to his second-period goal to finish with seven points.

And the last time two players had scored seven or more points in a game was in February 2011 when Raiders beat Swindon ENL Wildcats 23-2 at Rom Valley Way - Slovakian import Juraj Huska scoring 8+4 and player-coach Danny Marshall adding 4+7.

Raiders are set to travel to Telford on Saturday (7pm), before hosting Sheffield on Sunday (5.15pm), having beaten the Steeldogs 5-3 on their previous visit on November 5.

"For us now it's all about looking forward," said Connolly.

"We need to take this confidence into the coming weekend against Sheffield and Telford, both of which are winnable games."