Lee Valley Lions -v- Romford Spitfires
23/12/06 (Lose 5-8)

Stefan Nubert
Michael Ranby
Justin Grant
Grant Hutcheon
Ben Williams
Scott Beeson
Stas Prokofiev
Nick Braithwaite
Andrzej Maslak
Mark Swaine
Rob Courtman
Richard Hodge
Romanas Fedotovas
Paul O'Neill (A)
Michael Jacobs
Glen Jackson (G)
James Scott-Joseph

Additional Comments:

Lee Valley had thrashed their Romford rivals 7-1 at home back in October but the Spitfires were enjoying an upturn in fortunes, having lost by only relatively small margins to Haringey and Invicta.

Romford were keen to outsmart the Lions on their home ice but failed to impress in the first period. The pace was fast and furious, with Romford's Michael Gray facing a barrage of shots from Lee Valley. With just one second left Andrzej Maslak scored an unassisted, short-handed goal straight from the face-off to put the Lions 1-0 up.

However, once the second period started it took less than a minute for Ricky Mills to score Romford's first. The goal came on a powerplay as Nicky Braithwaite sat out 2-mins for cross-checking. This was swiftly followed at 21:49 by a goal from former Lee Valley forward Ben Osborne, putting the home team ahead.

Lee Valley equalised at 27:01 with a spectacular slapshot from Scott Beeson, the assists going to Andrzej Maslak and Paul O'Neill. Beeson was then sidelined until the end of the period with a 10-mins misconduct penalty. Romford soon hit back, taking the 3-2 lead at 32:49 with another powerplay goal, this time at the hands of Jon Gray.

Lions' defenceman Romanas Fedotovas had some slinky moves up his sleeve and unleashed the best of them to equalise on the powerplay again at 38:50. He moved in for the kill, waited until the Romford netminder was floundering helplessly then flipped the puck into the net.

It was another powerplay effort from Fedotovas that saw Lee Valley creep into the lead at 40:25. He was then sidelined with 2-mins for elbows and 2-mins for roughing, both timed at 41:54. Penalties now become more frequent and they had an immediate negative effect. In the box at 50:09 was Richard Hodge with 2-mins for cross-checking and joining him was James Scott-Joseph who received 2+10 for checking from behind.

The Spitfires pounced on the advantage they had with Ben Osborne scoring his second of the night at 52:10. An unassisted goal from Evander Grinwell followed at 53:04 before Ben Williams hit the back of the Romford net in great style, assists going to Michael Jacobs and 17-year-old Stas Prokofiev.

Romanas Fedotovas received 2+10 for checking to the head at 55:40 and although Lee Valley kept the Spitfires at bay it was Sean Martin who put the nail in the coffin with their 8th goal at 58:59. Trouble had been brewing in the final period and things came to a head at 59:06 as tempers frayed both on the ice and between the team benches. Ex-Lee Valley player Dan Sampson and Matt France received 2-mins roughing penalties for Romford and while Paul O'Neill received the same punishment for the Lions Scott Beeson was handed 10-mins.

This was the first game the Romford Spitfires had actually won this season (a previous encounter against Haringey was awarded to them by default) and their standard of play had clearly improved. However, it was sad that a number of their fans had to resort to hostility, aggression and threats of violence aimed at both Lee Valley players and fans. This included a threat to "smash the face in" of a 72-year-old woman, behaviour which I consider to be nothing short of disgraceful.

Referee was Wargitsch, Linesmen were Beck and Soloyjous.