Romford Raiders Vs Sheffield Scimitars 25th October 2009

Romford Raiders 2 Sheffield Scimitars 6 (0-0 : 2-5 : 0-1)

Romford remain without a win this season, as 36 seconds of madness cost them the game against Sheffield on Saturday night. Romford were at full strength, welcoming back both Darren Cotton and Adam Copland.

The first period saw Romford come out of the blocks fastest, and test Ben Bowns in the Sheffield net. However, the young netminder was not to be beaten, and as the period wore on Sheffield came back into the game. Dallas Costanzo saw Bowns block his low shot, Frankie Harvey failed to get his stick to a pass from the Canadian, and Cotton was unable to lift the puck over the grounded netminder, as Romford looked to get the first goal. At the other end of the ice, Joe Myers denied former Raider Mark Stewart, whilst Robert Farmer saw a shot hit the bar. Despite this there was no scoring as the teams headed to the locker rooms for the first time.

The second period saw 7 goals, a fight, and powerplays for both teams. The Scimitars were the team to open the scoring, when Jesse Hammill's clearance only found Tom Squires, and he skated in on Myers and lifted the puck into the roof of the net. A penalty on Jason Buckman gave Sheffield a powerplay, at 27.37 and the Scimitars used the extra man to double their advantage. Squires took a pass from Steve Duncombe and fed the puck across to Matt Haywood, who scored from close range. Sheffield found themselves on the powerplay again when Hammill reacted to a bad hit from Lee Haywood on Harvey, and the pair dropped the gloves. Both players were given double roughing minors, but Hammill took an additional 2+10 for a check to the head. The Raiders killed off the penalty and no sooner were they back at full strength, then they scored to make it 2-1. A scramble in front of the net finally ended with Costanzo forcing the puck home, at 34.05, to put Romford back in the game. However, just 57 seconds later the visitors were 2 goals ahead again, and so began the 36 seconds that lost Romford the game. At 34.57 a poor pass from Copland fell straight to Stuart Brittle who set up Matt Haywood for his second of the night. Just 18 seconds later and Simon Butterworth converted a centre from Peter Slamiar, before Farmer's shot trickled under Myers another 18 seconds after. That was to prove the end of the game for Myers who was replaced between the pipes by Euan King. Romford regrouped and made it 5-2, at 36.54, when Mikko Silvennoinen scored his 1st goal in Gold & Blue from Danny Marshall's pass. Romford actually out shot their visitors in the period, but found themselves 3 goals behind going into the second interval.

The final period saw Sheffield outshot again, but they were able to hold on, and then extend their lead, when Haywood completed his hat-trick, at 57.24, with a shot that slipped through King. Before this the luck refused to go Romford's way as they were either denied by Bowns, or the bounce of the puck. Cotton was denied by Bowns who stacked the pads to keep out his low drive, and Costanzo saw the netminder somehow get a pad on this shot from close range. It was to prove the story of Romford's night, as Bowns made 41 saves to give his team the win.

Man of the match for Romford went to Dan Cox, with Bowns deservedly taking the award for the Scimitars.