Spartans
travelled up to Dumfries on Saturday for their NIHL Moralee clash with the
Solway Sharks but frustratingly went down 4-1 in an enjoyable game of hockey.
Initially
there was nothing between the two teams who were both clearly up for the game but
it was Sharks that took the lead on 5.20 through Richard Bentham who had picked
a pass up from his netminder Gary Russell to then shoot his team into the lead.
Spartans edged the game in terms of possession but Sharks had the far greater
chances, good ones too but Brandon Stones was solid in Spartans goal. He
couldn’t do anything about the second though; a good goal scored by Joshua Hay timed
15.10.
Spartans started
the period well but Sharks put themselves in a very good position when they
broke out to score on 22.37, a good goal too scored by Richard Bentham assisted
Craig Mitchell. Spartans looked more dangerous this period and had some good
chances to get back into the game but it wasn’t quite falling for them. After a good spell Spartans conceded a disappointing
goal whilst on the penalty kill timed 34.26 when Frazer Goldie scored an easy
goal with Spartans gifting Sharks too much time and space to set the play up to
score a goal that Sharks shouldn’t really have been allowed to score. Spartans didn’t
give up and had a few good chances to reduce the deficit but they went either
agonisingly wide or were well saved by Gary Russell in Sharks goal; having said
that, Sharks did deserve their lead which was 4-0 at the end of the second
period.
Spartans
were arguably the better team in the final but were up against a determined
Sharks team that were in no mood to surrender their lead. The game was end to
end but despite more good chances Spartans could only manage to score one goal,
a cracker of a shot from Ben Jones, his first in senior hockey timed 44.33 assisted
Nick Manning & Scott Morris. Spartans had the best chance to add to the
score late on in the game but a stupendous save from Gary Russell prevented
what seemed like a certain goal late on to keep the score at 4-1 to Sharks
which was the final score.
Despite the
defeat there were positives to be taken from the game for Spartans who maybe on
another night may have had more to show for their efforts in a rink that is
difficult to win; Solway’s home record is testament to that but you can’t deny
that Sharks were worthy & deserved winners on the night in what was an
enjoyable game of hockey despite the loss. So the best team won on the night in
an enjoyable game of hockey with the Man of the Match Awards going to Richard
Bentham for Sharks and Jonathan Kirk for Spartans.
Earlier in
the week Sheffield Lasers U12’s A had enjoyed a comfortable 13-0 win over
Sutton. This weekend saw Sheffield Sabres U14’s B faced Whitley Warriors for
the second week running, this time at Ice Sheffield but the outcome was the
same with Sabres winning 8-5 with a spirited performance. Sheffield Rapiers
faced a strong Bradford team but neither team was unable to quite do enough to
secure the win so had to be content with sharing the spoils in a 4-4 draw.
On Sunday two of SIHA’s teams were in action against Sutton. Sheffield Swampfrogs put in a solid performance to win 11-2 over in Sutton in Ashfield whilst in a competitive game at Ice Sheffield, Sutton Sting 18’s ran out 7-4 winners against Sheffield Greyhounds U18’s B for a mixed bag of results for Sheffield’s junior academy teams.
Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article, Facebook or via Twitter:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@TomWalkeden
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