SWINDON FLAMES MATCH REPORTS - 01/06/08

SENIOR FLAMES   4 v KSF VIPERS 8 

Sunday morning saw a return to action for the Swindon Skater Hockey Club’s Senior Flames as they took to the rink at Farnborough Leisure Centre for their SASH league fixture against the KSF Vipers. The Flames went into the game as undefeated league leaders and were looking to further extend the gap between themselves and their rivals. The Vipers, however, saw the game as an opportunity not only to overhaul the Heathrow Reapers and claim the second place but as a chance to avenge their earlier 6-3, league defeat by the Flames and end the Swindon side’s unbeaten 6 game run.

Determined to establish the upper hand from the off the Vipers hit the rink at full throttle and scored their first goal within the first 90 seconds of the game. Eager to press home their advantage, the Vipers kept up the pressure from the restart and were rewarded three minutes later when they again beat the Flames net-minder to double their lead. With the Flames on the back foot and clearly rattled, their defence became more and more reckless as they battled to resist the Viper’s onslaught and midway through the period the Flames were reduced to three outfield players as D-man James Bayliss received a five minute penalty for cross-checking. The Flames’ misery was compounded 60 second later when Bayliss was joined in the sin-bin by fellow defender Luke Swaby and taking full advantage of the Flames short-handed line the Vipers stormed the Flames goals to score a power-play goal and increase their lead to 3. Three goals down and still with only three outfield players the Flames attempted to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm until the second period but when captain Jim Grey received a two minute minor penalty that, again, reduced the Flames to 2 the Vipers struck for the fourth time as they picked up another power-play goal.

With less than four minutes of the period remaining the Vipers added to what appeared to be a complete first-half rout when they scored their fifth unanswered goal. With their backs against the wall and only two minutes remaining in the period The Flames, now restored to full strength, at last managed to gain some composure and launched into a last ditch blitz on the Viper’s goals which, in a remarkable 120 second spell, led to strikes from Dean Morgan, Dan King and Craig Davies to take the Flames to the halftime whistle trailing KSF 5-3 down.

Having clawed their way back into the competition The Flames took to the rink for the second period determined not to lose the momentum built in the final minutes of the first half and were soon breathing down the back of the Viper’s necks when Craig Davies again found the back of the net to close the gap to only one goal. As the resurgent Flames sought to wrestle the game from KSF, throwing men forward in search of the equaliser, the Vipers managed to breakout of their own half and restore a slim margin by scoring their 6th goal but with ten minutes still left to play it was the Vipers who appeared to be rocking on their heels and as the Flames increased the pressure the cracks began to show as the KSF defence became increasingly more desperate. The door was opened to the Flames when The Vipers were reduced through a minor penalty call but an outstanding effort by the KSF keeper repeatedly denied the Flames attack.  The  Flames continued to press forward but, having been restored to full strength, the Vipers stubbornly resisted all efforts. Again the Vipers conceded a minor penalty, which gave an advantage to the Flames but, again, the Swindon side were unable to breakdown the determined KSF defence and with only two minutes to play the Vipers managed to break and score against the run of play to put the game beyond the Flames at 7-4. With the contest over the Flames’ resolve dissipated and the Viper’s scored their 8^th and final goal with 80 seconds of game time left to hand the Flames their first league defeat and claim second place in the league.

The Viper’s good form continued throughout the day as, in a later fixture, they beat bottom placed Banbury Bulldogs 11 –1 to end the day only one point behind the Flames who despite their defeat remain at the top of the table.

Speaking after the game, Nigel Davies, Senior Flames manager, said, “ Of course we’re all disappointed that we’ve not been able to maintain our unbeaten run but as the season has progressed the games have got progressively more and more difficult and we’d like to congratulate the Vipers on a good result which they deserved. Despite losing today am sure that we can improve on our performance and we’ll be looking to bounce back when we face Oxford next week.”

 

PEEWEE REDS 1 v OXFORD STORM 17

Also in action on Sunday, the Flames peewee development (U-12’s) side The Reds faced-off against local rivals Oxford Storm. The Reds, a team made up of novice players who are in their first year of competitive hockey have had a difficult start to the season playing against their bigger and more experienced counterparts and Sunday’s game proved to be no less demanding as the Reds were brushed aside 16 – 1. The Reds solitary goal was scored by team captain Jake Latham and despite the one sided score-line the Reds gave their all and left the rink with their heads held high.

Mark Lane, the Reds manager, said after the game “ Despite the score the team gave a really spirited performance and I’m sure that with all their hard work, both, on match day and during our training sessions that the team will continue to improve and the results will come our way in time. At this level it’s really all about fun so as long as the youngsters are enjoying themselves then the results are’nt of any great consequence.”