Milton Keynes Lightning Vs Romford Raiders 31st October 2009

Milton Keynes Lightning 12 Romford Raiders 1 (3-0 : 4-1 : 5-0)

Romford went down to their biggest defeat of the season, as they were dominated by Milton Keynes on Saturday night.

The first period was all one way traffic, as the home side fired in 30 shots on Euan King in the Raiders goal. The Raiders netminder was beaten for the 1st time, at 7.08, as Andre Smulter was left alone in front of the net, and fired the puck into the top corner. Jacob Heron scored his first senior goal, at 14.32, when he picked up a rebound from a shot from Grant McPherson, and fired home. A penalty on Danny Marshall for delay of game gave the home side the space to make the score 3-0, at 18.41, when Ross Bowers was left unmarked on the back post, and turned home a pass from Smulter.

The 2nd period was slightly more even but an early penalty on Matt Turner gave the home side another powerplay, that they took full advantage of. Again it was Smulter who set up the goal, as he sent the puck across the crease for Michal Farn to tuck home at the far post, at 23.10. Romford had a powerplay of their own, when Lukas Zatopek was called for tripping, and they also made it count, when an nice pass from Dallas Costanzo picked out Mikko Silvennoinen, and the Finn roofed the puck, at 25.08. That was to be as good as it got for Romford as they then conceded 3 almost identical goals. All 3 were scored by a player picking up the puck behind the net, driving out in front, and lifting the puck into the top corner. Firstly, at 30.31, it was Monir Kalgoum who found the weakness in the Romford defence, before Michal Wales matched his team mate twice, with goals at 32.29 and 34.05.

The final period was once again dominated by the home side who fired in another 5 unanswered goals. Nick Poole scored on the powerplay, at 45.32, finding space in front the fire home, as Jason Buckman sat out for interference. Wales completed a hat-trick, with a close range finish, at 50.56, before Kalgoum made it double figures for the home side, at 54.54. The home side then completed the scoring with 2 goals in 15 seconds. Matt Towalski again benefited from poor defence as he was left alone on the edge of the crease to score, at 56.29, before McPherson was allowed to skate in from neutral ice, and slip the puck through King's pads to complete the 12-1 scoreline.

Man of the match for Romford went to Frankie Harvey, with Wales taking the award for the home side.