Swindon Flames Match Reports 09/03/08

SWINDON FLAMES SENIORS 10 v HEATHROW REAPERS 5

Swindon Flames Seniors faced off against Heathrow Reapers on Sunday morning at the Farnborough Leisure Centre for their second league game of the season. This fixture promised to be a much sterner test for the newly formed Senior Flames, who won their first league match against Banbury Bulldogs at a canter. Eager to make a good start the Flames hit the rink at full tilt and began to pressure the Heathrow side from the face-off and their efforts were rewarded with an early breakthrough when team captain, Jim Grey found the back of the Reaper’s net in the second minute of the game. Despite conceding early as expected, the Reapers proved to be more resilient than the Flames last opponents and their defence closed ranks and stubbornly resisted until midway through the period when, first, Dean Morgan and then Hannah Archer successfully beat the Reaper’s netminder to put the Flames 3- 0 up. With eight minutes of the first half remaining the Flames were reduced to three outfield players as a result of a minor penalty call but the shorthanded Flames managed to increase their lead with another strike from Grey. Unable to capitalise on their one-man advantage it was only when the Flames were restored to full strength that the Reapers broke through the Swindon side’s defence and got themselves on the scorecard to take the teams to halftime with the Flames leading 4-1

The second half saw the Flames determined to convert the possession they had enjoyed in the first period into points and two goals from Craig Davies and the completion of a hat-trick from Grey put clear blue water between the two teams. With the game effectively in the bag, the team’s management began to experiment with the lines and took the opportunity to give some of their less experienced players a run out. The Reaper’s tried to turn this to their advantage and managed to score their second and third goals, only to be reigned back in as Dean Morgan and Matthew Baxter scored one each to restore the Flames 6 goal advantage. In the last minutes of the game the Reapers again managed to claw back two goals but with only 20 seconds left on the clock, Jim Grey, managed to get the better of the Heathrow keeper for the 4^th time to help the Flames to a convincing 10-5 victory.

Speaking after the game, Senior Flames manager, Nigel Davies, said, “ We’re very pleased with what was a good win against a determined and experienced team and it’s really encouraging to see our players beginning to gel and work together as a team and we’d hope to be able to carry this momentum forward to our next game against Oxford in a few weeks time”.

SWINDON FLAMES JUNIOR REDS 5 v HEATHROW REAPERS 6

Having had the misfortune to be drawn against the last year’s “A” league winners for their opening game last week, the Swindon Flames Junior Reds found themselves with a no less a difficult second outing as they faced off against 2007 ‘s “B” league champions, Heathrow Reapers.

Undaunted, the Reds were determined to improve on their last performance and for the first fourteen minutes of the game they managed to stonewall the Reapers and, thanks to a fine performance by keeper Adam Rose, kept the score-sheet clean despite sustained attacks by the Heathrow forwards. The unrelenting pressure from the Reapers produced the game’s first goal 6 minutes from the safety of the half time whistle but, stung by conceding, The Reds hit back hard and in a three minute blitz Jamie Morgan, Chris Weymouth and Ryan Martin all found the back of the net to take the Reds to the break 3-1 in front.

Having had the break to compose themselves, the Reapers restarted the game by scoring from the first face-off, to start what was to be a thrilling second period. With the scores at 3-2 Jamie Morgan again beat the Reaper’s keeper but Heathrow replied with two quick goals of their own to bring themselves back into contention at 4 all. The Reds responded immediately with a strike from Michael Weymouth taking the Swindon side ahead but in this end to end encounter the lead was short lived as the Reapers first equalised and then edged in front with 9 minutes of game time left. Having clawed themselves back into pole position the Reapers effectively shut up shop, determined to keep hold of their one goal advantage and despite their best efforts the Reds were unable to break through and were narrowly beaten 6-5.

Russell Weymouth, The Reds manager said “ The team are obviously disappointed not to have come away from this game with a win, especially as we were leading at the break, but what we were really looking for was an improvement on last weeks game and we certainly got that. They team performed well and showed a lot of determination and spirit and I’m sure that with the hard work that the whole team are putting in the results will come our way sooner rather than later.”

SWINDON FLAMES JUNIORS 8 v KSF VIPERS 2

The Swindon Flames Junior side were also in action this weekend as they took on Surrey based KSF Vipers. The Junior Flames were looking to bounce back from their opening day defeat against Oxford Hurricanes and secure their first league points of the season. The Flames started brightly, testing the KSF keeper from the off and as a result of sustained pressure from the Swindon forwards the ball got way from the netminder in a crowded goalmouth and crossed the line to give the Flames an early one goal advantage. Two minutes later The Flames’ lead was doubled as, Assistant Captain, Tom Ireland rifled a shot pass the keeper to give his team a 2-0 lead. The Vipers were given a reprieve midway through the first half when the Flames were left shorthanded through a minor penalty call and, making the most of the opportunity, KSF put themselves on the scoreboard with a power-play goal. Restored to full strength The Flames sought to stamp their authority on the game and goals from Craig Davies and Miles Bailey followed before another penalty call led to the Vipers second power-play goal to take the sides to the break with the Flames leading 4-2.

Within seconds of the restart The Flames extended their lead when Ireland scored his second goal of the game and as the Vipers resolve faded both Ireland and Bailey managed to complete their hat-tricks to give the Junior Flames a comfortable 8-2 win and secure their first league points of 2008.

After the match James Cosgrove, Junior Flames coach, said, “ This was a good, solid effort by the team and it’s great to take our first points of the season. There’s a few things we need to work on, that both conceded goals were from power-plays is obviously something we need to look at but on the whole I’m pleased with the team’s performance today.”