Romford Raiders Vs Swindon Wildcats 11th October 2009

Romford Raiders 3 Swindon Wildcats 4 (1-0 : 1-0 : 1-3 : 0-1)

Romford picked up their first point of the season with an overtime loss against Swindon on Sunday, but will be disappointed to have thrown away a 2 goal lead. Romford were without the released duo of Michal Palik and Kamil Vavra, as well as the injured Adam Copland and Ryan Giles. Euan King returned from his injury to back up Joe Myers, and Jesse Hammill suited up on D.

Both teams were called for early penalties by referee Roman Szucs. Jon Sitko was the first to visit the penalty bin, for hooking, and was quickly joined by ex-Raider Jan Krajicek for the same offence. A minute into the Krajicek penalty Dylan Row was also called for hooking, and Romford found themselves on the powerplay. Darren Cotton forced Geoff Woolhouse into a good pad save, but their was no scoring as the teams returned to full strength. Myers denied Krajicek and Matt Foord at the other end, before Romford were given another chance on the powerplay, when Andrew Finn departed for slashing, at 11.52. It took Romford just 21 seconds to make the extra man count, as Sitko's shot from the point bounced off the boards behind the goal, and fell perfectly for Dallas Costanzo to turn home. A holding call on Sitko prevented Romford from building on their goal, and they found themselves under immense pressure for the rest of the period. Despite this, Myers was able to turn away everything thrown at him, and the home side when into the first break a goal to the good.

Myers found himself in trouble with Szucs at the start of the second period when he questioned the lateness of a whistle when the puck hit him in the helmet, and was given a 10 minute misconduct. This proved to be the only penalty of a much more even period. The 2 netminders were again in great form, but thankfully from a Romford point of view, the only goal of the period went their way. Cotton saw his shot from the left saved by Woolhouse, but Danny Marshall was on hand to convert the rebound, at 27.03.

The final period saw Swindon score twice in the first 6 minutes to tie the game up. At 44.14 Aaron Nell's close range finish, from Foord's centre reduced the gap to 1 goal. It took just over 2 ½ minutes for the game to become tied, as Jozef Kohut lifted the puck over the grounded netminder. From this point on Swindon were on top, and the period shot count of 17-5 in the visitors favour showed their dominance. However, Myers kept his team in the game with save after save, and the game looked destined for overtime with 3 minutes to go. But there was still time for plenty more drama! Romford were on the powerplay, with Row sitting out for interference, and pressing for a game winning goal, when disaster struck. The Wildcats cleared the puck from the zone, and Myers raced from his goal to pass the puck up ice. However, instead he only managed to fire it straight to Kohut, who skated in on net and forced the puck home, at 57.36, for a short-handed goal that gave the Wildcats the lead for the first time. Romford had just over 2 minutes to find another goal, and it took them less than 1 to do just that. Marshall battled hard in the corner to keep the puck, and eventually found the perfect angle to centre for Costanzo to tip home his second of the night, and send the game into overtime, at 58.29.

A late penalty on Kohut meant Romford started the extra period on the powerplay, and they laid siege to the Swindon goal, but Woolhouse was able to keep the puck out of the net. And Romford were made to pay for missing the opportunity, as Swindon returned to full strength. Krajicek found Joe Baird in neutral ice, and the defenceman let rip with a shot that screamed into the roof to the net, to win the game, at 62.00.

Man of the match for Romford was Joe Allen, whilst Nell took the Swindon beers.