Romford Raiders Vs Sheffield Scimitars 20th September 2009

Romford Raiders 2 Sheffield Scimitars 5 (0-0 : 2-2 : 1-3)

Romford remained without a win for the season, after going down 5-2 at home to Sheffield, despite turning in a far improved performance.

The first period was goalless, but both sides had their chances to score, with both netminders in good form to keep the game tied. Romford had the first powerplay of the night, when Joakim Milqvist was called for hooking, but Ben Bowns made 2 good saves from Danny Marshall and Jon Sitko, to prevent any scoring. A penalty on Kamil Vavra for holding the stick gave Sheffield a chance on the powerplay, but the numbers were quickly evened up when Peter Slamiar was binned for holding. Sitko saw another effort saved by Bowns, but Romford ended the period on the penalty kill, when Vavra was binned again, on a harsh holding call.

The second period started with Sheffield still on the powerplay, and they made the man advantage count, when Milqvist centred the puck, and Aaron Strawson scored into the top corner, at 20.43. Romford then had another powerplay chance, but found themselves 2-0 down, as the visiting side scored a shorthanded goal. A Romford attack broke down in neutral ice, and as the puck broke towards the Sheffield goal, Joe Myers was beaten to the puck by James Archer who, after a scramble on the edge of the crease, forced the puck home. With Sheffield back at full strength Romford did find the back of the net, at 28.24. Darren Cotton did the hard work to force a turnover in the zone, before centring the puck for Sitko to tap home. Further penalties on Archer and Lee Haywood were not capitalized on by the home side, but again they scored shortly after Sheffield returned to full strength. Danny Marshall found Cotton in space in front of the net, and having missed a number of previous chances trying to place the puck, he slammed the puck into the net, at 37.27.

It was all to play for going into the final period, but unfortunately for Romford, they conceded twice in the first 3.24 to effectively seal the game. At 41.38 Stuart Brittle was given too much time and space in front of the net, to turn home a pass from Robert Farmer, before Slamiar made it 4-2, having faked a shot to draw Myers out of position. Sitko bought Romford right back into the game, at 48.19, bursting through the Sheffield defence, and firing home a low shot, but a elbows call on Danny Cox, and a soft checking from behind penalty on Dallas Costanzo put Romford on the back foot. With just under 2 minutes left, when Stephen Wallace deliberately pushed the net off, referee Nigel Boniface awarded a penalty shot. Vavra stepped up to take the shot, but after the puck bobbled at the vital moment, he was unable to get a decent shot away, and the chance was gone. Romford called a timeout, at 58.51, and pulled Myers for the extra skater. As is so often the case, the move backfired, as a awful bounce from the boards almost sent the puck into the net, but when the defence were unable to win the puck back, Wallace fired home, from the right, with 46 seconds to go.

Man of the match for Romford was Sitko, with Bowns taking the honour for Sheffield.