Lee Valley Lions -v- Solent & Gosport Sharks
20/01/07 (Win 12-4)

Stefan Nubert (G)
Michael Ranby
Justin Grant
Billy Whitney
Andrew Holdaway
Ben Williams
Scott Beeson
Stas Prokofiev
Andy Watt
Mark Swaine
Rob Courtman
Richard Hodge
Romanas Fedotovas
Paul O'Neill (A)
James Hatfull (C)
Michael Jacobs
George Alley (G)
James Scott-Joseph

Additional Comments:

Lions had suffered a crushing defeat to the Solent & Gosport Sharks only the weekend before so they were adamant the same embarrassment would not occur on their home ice. The Lions had the immediate advantage of a full bench while the Sharks could muster a squad of only nine players.

Gosport had the previous week's victory fresh in their minds and for the first few minutes the Lions had difficulty in breaking through their defence. The Sharks always seemed to be perfectly positioned to ward off attack, but the breakthrough came at 12:43 when Scott Beeson scored, assisted by Andy Watt and Ben Williams. The goal came on the powerplay as Josh Grocutt served the Sharks' only penalty of the period.

It was Beeson who struck again at 16:02, this time assisted by Williams and Paul O'Neill. Less than a minute later Stas Prokofiev impressively hit the back of the net unassisted to put the Lions 3-0 up at the end of the first period. At the same point in the previous week's away leg to Gosport the Lions had been 3-0 down to their opponents so Lee Valley were enjoying a complete reversal of fortune.

The second period began and Paul O'Neill was hit with a 2+10 penalty for checking from behind. The call was hotly disputed as the Gosport player had turned around but the protests were dismissed by referee Russell-Samways. The controversial penalty did nothing to hamper the Lions' enthusiasm as Stas Prokofiev went on to score both short-handed and unassisted at 24:19.

However, being short-handed soon took its toll and Gosport's Martin Thorpe scored the first of his hat-trick goals unassisted at 25:14. Lee Valley were now starting to suffer from the string of penalties being called against them and cracks began to show. At 30:55 Lions' Romanas Fedotovas clashed with the Sharks' Kris Abbott. As both clambered to their feet Fedotovas used his elbow to jab Abbott in the side of the head before kicking him. The unnecessary aggression was witnessed by the officials and Russell-Samways had no choice but to serve Fedotovas with a match penalty. As Andrzej Maslak was already serving a ban this left the Lions to continue without a foreign player for the second week running. The gravity of the incident means Fedotovas is likely to be banned for almost all games remaining in the season.

Fedotovas' ejection from the game meant the Lions would be short-handed for five minutes. Gosport wasted no time in taking advantage of the unsettled home side, powerplay goals getting the better of netminder George Alley at 31:46 and 32:30.

The Lions' fragile lead was now under threat so their confidence took a hammering when Gosport equalised at 39:42 to bring the score up to 4-4. The 49 minutes of penalties served on the Lions during the period cost Lee Valley dearly and their number of shots on goal had halved.

The embarrassment of losing to a team with only eight outfield players was simply out of the question. The Lions had to step up a gear and hope that the sparse Gosport side would at last start to weaken. At 41:44 the Lions tipped the score back in their favour with (in my opinion) goal of the match from defenceman Mark Swaine. Scored from the blue line it sailed past Gosport netminder Curtis Jeffery and was ably assisted by Michael Ranby.

Jeffery had been solid in goal and continued to see off shots from the Lee Valley contingent but his luck changed at 53:00 when a fantastic shot from Ben Williams hit home, assists going to Michael Ranby and Andy Watt. A crazy few minutes followed as almost every shot aimed at the Gosport net went in, allowing the Lions to score no fewer than six goals in under two minutes. These goals included a slapshot scored from the left at an almost impossibly wide angle by Scott Beeson and another where the referee overruled the goal judge.

It was Beeson who rounded off the scoring at 56:24 with his fifth goal, the assist going to Ben Williams. Beeson said, "I thought we started well and although we had the normal second period shakes we proved in the third that we have what it takes to be solid overall."

Man of the Match for the Lions was awarded to netminder George Alley. This was the first game this season in which he'd played a full game as he usually acts as back-up to Stefan Nubert. Alley stated of the game, "It was good to finally get this win off our back but there's still plenty to improve on as the second period showed."

Those whose stats were particularly impressive were Scott Beeson (5+0), Ben Williams (2+4), Andy Watt (0+5), Stas Prokofiev (3+0) and Michael Ranby (0+3).

Referee was Russell-Samways, Linesmen were Harris and Goebel.