Romford Raiders Vs Guildford Flames 3rd October 2009

Romford Raiders 2 Guildford Flames 6 (1-3 : 1-2 : 0-1)

Romford went down to a 6-2 defeat at home to Guildford, in a rare Saturday night game at Rom Valley Way. Romford were without Euan King, Darren Cotton and Adam Copeland, with Frankie Harvey, Joe Allen and AJ Boot, stepping up from the Fury.

The game got off to a terrible start for Romford, as the Flames took the lead with just 28 seconds on the clock. A scramble in front of the net saw Joe Myers block an effort from Lukas Smital, but the rebound fell to Rob Lamey, who poked the puck home. This early set back looked to have had an bad effect on Romford, who were dominated by their visitors for the first 5 minutes. Despite this their was no further scoring, as the game entered it 7th minute. But this was not to last, as the Flames moved 2-0 ahead, at 7.02, as Rick Plant finished off a nice pass from Milos Melicherik. Co-incidental penalties on Steve Maile for slashing, and Plant for interference, at 7.39 led to a period of 4 on 4, and Romford then found themselves on the powerplay, when Martin Masa was found to be using an illegal stick. This was their chance to get back into the game, and they took it with a beautifully worked goal. Kamil Vavra drove to the net, and when he found his path to goal blocked by Mark Lee, flicked the puck through his legs, for Dallas Costanzo to fire home, at 9.29. A cross-checking call on Smital gave Romford another powerplay chance, but they were unable to capitalize, and were made to pay for it, when they fell 3-1 behind, at 14.43. Melicherik was involved again as he found Stuart Potts on the left, and his shot somehow beat Meyer at his near post.

Guildford started well in the 2nd period, and Danny Marshall had to hook back Smital to prevent him getting through on goal, and he was duly binned for the offence. The Flames piled on the pressure, and got the goal that moved them 4-1 ahead, albeit in fortuitous circumstances. Melicherik was attempting to feed the puck in front of the net, but instead it bounced of Andy Munroe's skate and into the net, at 24.26. Melicherik made it 5-1, at 30.40 as he latched onto a pass from Potts and fired in a shot from the left, that beat Meyers and lodged in the netting. The Flames found themselves in more penalty trouble with Smital binned for hooking, and then a bench minor was called for changing a player on icing. Although they killed off the penalties, the second one was barely over when Romford scored again, as Allen set up Costanzo for his 2nd of the night, with 22 seconds remaining on the period.

Romford were on the penalty kill at the start of the final period, as Costanzo sat out a charging call, but were able to kill off the penalty. The scoring for the night was completed, at 48.37 when Masa got through the Romford defence and found Smital on the edge of the crease. Romford continued to press the Guildford defence but Lee in the Guildford goal was stopping everything that was thrown at him. Romford had a final powerplay chance when Jez Lundin was called for interference, but they were still unable to beat Lee again, and the game ended at 6-2.

Man of the match for Romford was the impressive Allen, with Tom Duggan the Flames choice.

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