Swindon Wildcats Vs Romford Raiders 19th September 2009

Swindon Wildcats 6 Romford Raiders 1 (2-0 : 1-1 : 3-0)

Romford opened their league campaign with a disappointing 6-1 loss in Wiltshire on Saturday night. Euan King was back in the Romford line up, but Joe Myers got the nod to start between the pipes.

The first period was the most even of the game and, despite a shot count that was given as 22-12 in the home sides favour, the teams were well matched. Romford had the first real chance of the period, with a short-handed breakaway from Darren Cotton. Andy Munroe was sitting out a tripping minor, when a long pass from Michal Palik sent the alternate captain free on net. Cotton sent in a shot that bounced back off the post, hit Geoff Woolhouse and slid back over the line. The netminder covered it with his pad, and was then allowed to move it back in front of the net by referee Matt Thompson, before any check was made as to whether the goal should count. With the puck now no longer in the goal, nothing was given. This error was to become even more costly for Romford when the home side scored twice in 30 seconds in the 16th minute. Firstly, at 16.04, Sam Bullas sent in a shot from the blueline, that was turned past Myers by Alan Green. Then at 16.34, Matt Foord picked up a loose puck and squeezed it between the netminders pads, with Palik unable to clear it before crossing the line. The home side missed a host of chances to add further goals, with Raimonds Danilics especially guilty of missing an open net on 2 occasions.

Romford were on the powerplay for almost all of the first 5 minutes of the second period, but they were still unable to beat Woolhouse. A holding call on Adam Copeland was killed off by the visiting side, but 2 further powerplays were also wasted. During a period of 5-on-5 play the home side moved 3-0 ahead, as former Raider Jan Krajicek slammed home a trademark slapshot from the blueline. When Dylan Row was called for cross checking and slashing, Romford finally made a powerplay count, and got on the scoresheet. Danny Marshall carried the puck deep into the zone, and centered for Cotton to turn home from the edge of the crease, at 38.48.

A cross-checking penalty on Palik gave the home side another powerplay, in the final period, and it took just 7 seconds for them to make the score 4-1, as Foord tipped home a shot from Krajicek, at 46.46. Less than a minute later the score became 5-1, as Jozef Kohut sliced through the Romford defence, and found Row, who fired into the top corner, from the right hash marks. Despite having 3 powerplays in the period, Romford managed only 1 shot in the whole period, and their misery was complete, at 52.45, when Cotton lost the puck in the zone, and allowed Foord to breakaway and centre for Lee Richardson to score at short-handed 6th, at 52.45.

Man of the match for Romford was Myers, with Woolhouse taking the award for the home side.