SWINDON FLAMES MATCH REPORTS - 22/06/08

SWINDON FLAMES JUNIORS 11 v KSF VIPERS 2

The Junior Flames took to the Farnborough Leisure centre’s rink on Sunday morning in the first of the day’s SASH league fixtures as they faced off against bottom of the table KSF Vipers. With the Vipers struggling for points, having lost 9 games in 9 outings, the Flames saw the match as an opportunity to cement their position in the table’s top three. However, within the opening thirty seconds, the Flames were reduced to three outfield players through a minor penalty. Despite this early opportunity, the Vipers were unable to press home their advantage and were soon punished for their failure to capitalise when the Flames returned to full strength and forward Craig Davies found the back of the net to give the Swindon side a one nil lead. Minutes later the Flames doubled their lead with a strike from Tom Poole but again the Vipers were handed a way back into the game when the Flames conceded two back -to -back penalties which left them short-handed for a four minute spell. As before, the Flames defence closed ranks and, again, despite their numerical advantage the Vipers were unable to make any headway and found themselves further behind when James Townsend converted a short-handed goal to take the Flames score to three. Further strikes from both Townsend and Davies saw the Flames 5 goals to the good before the Vipers managed to pull one back in the dying seconds of the first period.

Having, effectively, put the game beyond the Viper’s reach in the first half the Flames went into the second period looking to stamp their authority on the game and four goals from Tom Ireland plus two more from team captain Luke Vincent saw the Flames to the final whistle with a comfortable win, despite conceding a late consolation goal to the Vipers.

 

SWINDON FLAMES SENIORS 4 v HEATHROW REAPERS 3

In contrast to the earlier Junior’s game the Swindon Flames Senior team faced a much sterner test as they faced off against close rivals Heathrow Reapers. In a physical and, sometimes, spiky encounter the Flames soon found themselves on the back foot as the Reapers opened the scoring midway through the first period. An outstanding effort by man-of-the-match, Jason Moody, the Flames net-minder, kept the Swindon side in the game but, despite his best efforts, the Reapers managed to find the back of the net again to give them a two goal advantage before team captain Jim Grey managed to claw back a goal for the Flames to take them to the half time whistle trailing by one.

The second half started where the first had left off and, again, it was the Reapers who got the best of the early exchanges enabling them to extend their lead to 3-1.With little over twelve minutes of game time remaining the Flames began to wrestle back the advantage and led from the front by Grey, whose second goal seemed to spur the team into action, a determined effort saw the Flames equalise through a superbly crafted goal from Chris Adamson. The Flames clearly saw no advantage in settling for a share of the points and with the game tilting in their favour they continued to press for the winner and were rewarded for their efforts when forward Dean Morgan rifled the ball past the Reapers keeper to edge the Flames in front at 4-3. With only four minutes of play remaining the Flames defence shut up shop and despite repeated attacks from their opponents they managed to hold out for the final whistle to claim a much deserved and hard fought victory.

 

SWINDON FLAMES PEEWEES 18 v SWINDON PEEWEE REDS 2

 

In Swindon’s last game of the day the club’s Peewee team faced off against their development side The Reds. Having beaten the Reds convincingly in two previous encounters the Peewee Flames confidently expected to brush their counterparts aside. However, the Reds, a team made up of rookie players in their first year of competitive hockey, have continued to improve game on game and it was they who opened the scoring with a goal from Charlie Browning in the first two minutes of the first period. Shaken from their complacency the Flames hit back with avengance with first half hat-tricks from team captain Sam Nobbs and Zack Simons with Will Harding adding two and goals from Anthony Bayliss and Megan Salisbury which saw the Flames to the half-time break comfortably in front 10 – 1.

The second period continued in the same vein as the first with Nobbs adding four more, Simons 3 and Harding completing his hat-trick but despite the one-sided score-line the Reds continued to try to compete throughout the entire game and were rewarded for a brave and determined effort when team captain Jake Latham snatched a late goal in the dying minutes of the game.