Romford Raiders Vs Milton Keynes Lightning 18th October 2009

Romford Raiders 1 Milton Keynes Lightning 7 (0-2 : 0-3 : 1-2)

Having pushed Swindon close in their last 2 games, hopes would have been high for a Romford win ahead of this game, but an awful 2nd period lead to a convincing defeat.

The first period was the best of the night for Romford, but despite outshooting their hosts 14-12, they found themselves 2-0 after 20 minutes. An early holding call on Lewis Christie gave Romford a powerplay, but in a sign of things to come, Barry Hollyhead in the Romford goal saved every shot that came his way. Frankie Harvey and Dallas Costanzo both went close, but Christie returned to the ice with the score still at 0-0. The Lightning opened the scoring, at 7.11 as Nick Poole fed the puck out from behind the net, and Adam Carr was well placed to fire the puck into the top corner. Romford had another powerplay chance, when Monir Kalgoum was called for slashing, but Hollyhead was in even better form to deny them again. The Lightning stopper pulled of 4 saves in succession to deny Costanzo and Marshall, before denying Harvey again during the powerplay period. Romford were left to rue this when the defence was unable to get the puck from Grant McPherson, and he set up Michael Wales for a low finish, at 11.31. The end of the period saw Romford on the penalty kill, as Andy Munroe and Jon Sitko were binned, but they were able to hold out.

Having played well and been unlucky in the first period, the second was a disaster for the home side, who managed just 2 shots on goal in the 20 minutes. Adam Brittle made it 3-0, at 22.00, before a fine individual goal from Kalgoum made it 4-0, at 24.49. Romford wasted another powerplay chance, when Christie was again binned for slashing, but then found themselves in penalty trouble with Munroe called for slashing and Costanzo for checking from behind. The Lightning used the penalty on Costanzo to move 5-0 ahead, as Euan King was caught out of position, and despite Jesse Hammill throwing himself into the goal, Andre Smulter managed to squeeze the puck into the net, at 38.20.

The final period saw Romford raise their game again, but it was already too late. The only high point of the game came at 42.46, when 16 year old Frankie Harvey scored his first senior goal. It was a goal that underlined his huge potential as he skated down the right wing, before unleashing a huge shot that flew into the top corner, giving Hollyhead no chance. An elbow by McPherson on Ryan Giles caused the main talking point of the final period. The Lightning forward was given an elbowing minor, with a furious Giles given a 10 minute misconduct for promising revenge once McPherson stepped back onto the ice. Dan Cox and Ali Band both tried to help out their team mate in the 50th minute, but both were given penalties leading to an extended powerplay for the Lightning. Carr took advantage of the powerplay to make it 6-1, at 51.21, before Hammill and Mike Timms tried their luck with McPherson. Again it was Romford who came off worst in the penalties, and Ross Bowers struck a 7th goal, at 55.28. McPherson escaped any further attention from the Romford team as the clock ran down to a 7-1 defeat.

Man of the match for Romford went to Harvey, with Carr the Lightning choice.