Andrew Lord applauded Red Army fans after Cardiff Devils’ play-offs quarter-final first leg clash with Coventry Blaze.

Devils take a 4-2 lead into the return match at Ice Arena Wales on Sunday (6pm) and head coach Lord said: “What a support. The Red Army were loud and proud.”

There are less than 100 tickets left for Cardiff’s final home fixture of the season on Sunday and the Elite League champions are hot favourites to make progress.

Lord’s team are hoping for another IAW #HellOut to complete a hugely success season in Cardiff Bay.

Blaze led twice in the first leg at Coventry’s Skydome, but Devils fought back each time and won thanks to goals from Joey Haddad, Sean Bentivoglio, Joey Martin and Matt Pope.

Lord and Bryce Reddick were the healthy scratches from the Devils team for a PredictorBet play-offs tie against a Blaze team intent on hitting their visitors hard from the start.

Ben Lake fired Blaze ahead when he scored on a powerplay at one minute 18 seconds and that was the only goal of a spirited first period.

Haddad levelled things (22-30) before Blaze regained the lead through Danick Paquette (24-43). The controversial goal was awarded following a video review after the net was dislodged on the play.

Bentivoglio netted on the powerplay (30-56), outwaiting a sprawling Nastiuk to fire into the net, and the teams went into the third locked on 2-2.

Martin gave Devils their first lead on 43 minutes, tipping home a second Cardiff powerplay goal before Pope completed the scoring after picking up a rebound on 49-32.

The second leg will take place at Ice Arena Wales on Sunday.

Belfast Giants won the only other play-off tie on Friday, beating Nottingham Panthers 4-3 in Northern Ireland.

The teams play their return leg at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham on Sunday.

There are two PredictorBet play-offs quarter-final matches this evening and they are: Manchester Storm v Fife Flyers, Sheffield Steelers v Guildford Flames.

Tickets for Devils play-off quarter-final home leg against Blaze can be purchased by CLICKING HERE or by ringing 0800 0842 666.

The play-off finals weekend is in Nottingham over the weekend of Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8.