Additional Comments:

The Lions travelled down the A12 to Rom Valley Way to face local rivals, Romford Spitfires, for the final time this season. Both teams were short-benched, icing only two lines and the pace of play was dictated by the strength of numbers.

The game started slowly with both teams sizing each other up; there was no score and very few chances created in the first half of this period. The Lions had been practicing a couple of plays and they had two distinct chances but the final touch eluded them on both occasions. Stas Prokofiev had a shot from the point which the Romford goalie juggled; the puck popped up over his shoulder, but he managed to scoop it back before it dropped into the goal.

Just as a Lions’ powerplay ended, the puck was shot in on the Lions’ net and saved, but the rebound dropped free just outside the goal crease and as Andrew Boot dived to cover it, ex-Lion Michael Jacobs managed to get his stick to it and poked it home to give the Spitfires a 1–0 lead. Lee Valley might have had a powerplay in the final few minutes as Michael Ranby was boarded, but he retaliated and was penalised too. No further opportunities were gained by either team and the score remained the same when the buzzer sounded at the end of the period.

As the second session started, Lee Valley made a very basic mistake, putting five players out when the teams were skating 4 on 4. The resulting “too many men” penalty saw a lot of pressure on the Lions’ goal and just as the penalty expired Spitfires’ Ben Osborne scored. This was quickly followed by a third at 23:52, courtesy of Ricky Mills. Lee Valley found themselves in the unenviable position of being 3-0 down just four minutes into the period.

The remainder of this period was very evenly matched and Lee Valley had numerous chances to score. Romford were riding their luck as the puck refused to find their net. Nick Breigoos and Ashley Curtin combined well, but the resulting shot pinged off the crossbar. Two further attempts were thwarted when goals looked more certain than not, but good netminding from Alan Blyth combined with centering passes just not finding the attackers’ sticks, kept the Lions scoreless.

Andrew Boot had to go behind his net to collect a puck and was up-ended by Robbie Vears. The Romford forward received 2-mins for interference, but again the Lee Valley powerplay unit couldn’t find the net. Just as the period closed the Spitfires had a breakaway as a lone forward found himself free of any Lee Valley defence and Andrew Boot made a fine save to keep the score 3–0 to Romford at the second interval.

Although Lee Valley finally got on the scoreboard, the third period belonged to Romford. There were times when the Lions were exerting good pressure and were in command but their final shots seemed to go straight at the goalie’s chest. Evander Grinell scored Romford’s fourth at 42:52 when the Lions’ defence again failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Lee Valley then finally took a chance as Nick Alley went down the left wing, waited for Gennadi Yufit to get in position and the pass was right onto his stick, for a one-time strike at 43:11.

Another opportunity went begging when, with the team short-handed as Terry Howlet sat out a hooking penalty, Stas Prokofiev looked to have an open net only for the Romford Man of the Match goalie, Alan Blyth, to somehow get down and across to foil him. The Spitfires could have scored again as they had a 3-on-0 breakaway, but a vital pass went astray which allowed Lee Valley to regroup. Romford did get their fifth goal, a Lions’ centreman was thrown out of the face-off and for some reason Sam Partington was sent in to take it. This left the far post unprotected and the puck found Michael Jacobs waiting for his second simple goal.

James Hatfull put a bit of pride back into the Lions as a defence-splitting pass from Gennadi Yufit found him alone in front of goal, a goal coming from a quick deke around Blyth at 58:06. Two more goals for the Spitfires followed in quick succession and Andrew Boot must have been kicked himself for the sixth as it went in off his body.

This was a scrappy game, one full of passes going astray in defence, failure to clear the zone effectively and missed chances from the forwards. A lot of the time the Lions looked in control, but failed to capitalise on their opportunities, the shots on goal showing that the Lions had the majority of chances. It has to be said, however, that Romford’s netminder was central to his team’s success as their overall standard of play did not out-class Lee Valley.

Referee was Bélanger, Linesmen were Tottman and Solovjovs.