Swindon ENL Wildcats 15/11/08

Lee Valley Lions -v- Swindon ENL Wildcats 15/11/08

Lose 4-5 (Home)

Lee Valley Lions

Swindon ENL Wildcats

07
08
09
10
11
12
15
16
17
19
22
26
32
37
44
49
Ashlee Cave
Joe Berry
Nick Alley (C)
Scott Beeson
Freddie Trimble
Ashley Curtin
Gennadi Yufit
Chris Wilson
Stas Prokofiev
Romanas Fedotovas
James Hatfull (A)
Michael Jacobs
James Scott-Joseph
George Alley
Rob Courtman
Andrew Boot
01
02
06
08
12
15
21
27
28
31
37
55
72
Oliver Lansdowne (G)
Jamie Newton (C)
Thomas Asprey
Stephen Whitfield
Grant Richardson
Lee Burden
Andrew Coakley
James Burnett
Ryan Burgess
David Lovejoy
Brian Clark
Scott Gough (A)
Sam Feeney

 

Goals

Penalties

Lions
Wildcats
Lions
Wildcats
Period 1:
0
1
2
6
Period 2:
2
1
4
4
Period 3:
2
3
2
0
MATCH TOTALS:
4
5
8
10

 

Shots on Goal
Lee Valley Lions(shots on Boot)
Swindon ENL Wildcats(shots on Lansdowne)
Period 1:
7
16
Period 2:
7
14
Period 3:
9
12
MATCH TOTALS:
23
42

 

Lee Valley Lions

Swindon ENL Wildcats

Highest Scorer in Match:
Stas Prokofiev (0+2)
Jamie Newton (1+2)
Man of the Match Winner:
Nick Alley
Ryan Burgess

Additional Comments:

Games between these two sides are always close and the team from Swindon was determined to exact revenge for allowing Lee Valley to score a last minute equaliser at their barn a couple of weeks previously. The Lions welcomed back forward Scott Beeson to the pride and for the first time this season were able to ice a full three lines, albeit still with some guys playing out of their natural position.

In the first nine minutes the Lions had the upper hand and some good opportunities to score. Michael Jacobs put a pass across the face of the goal but it was just out of the reach of Beeson and Romanas Fedotovas also had a good shot saved. One of the Lions’ enduring problems cost them the first goal, as the defence had two chances to clear the puck out of their zone but failed on both occasions and the resulting shot found the five hole of goalie Andrew Boot.

During a powerplay seven minutes later Lee Valley had the perfect build-up to equalise. The play was good and James Hatfull shot from the point, the rebound fell to Gennadi Yufit who had the net gaping in front of him, but as he went to tap the puck in, one of the Swindon defencemen just managed to slide his stick under that of the Lee Valley player and lift it away from the puck. The Lions had a brief spell of 5-on-3 but couldn’t capitalise on it.

Five minutes into the second session and the Lions fell further behind as a shot from Swindon’s Sam Feeney, which goalie Andrew Boot had covered, was deflected into the net off the stick of a Lions’ defenceman.

The home fans finally had something to cheer about in the 28th minute of the game as a rebound from a Joe Berry shot fell to Ashley Curtin, who lifted the puck over the sprawling Wildcats’ netminder. Only five minutes passed before there was more jubilant noise from the home crowd: the referee’s arm went up for a penalty on Swindon and with the goalie dashing for the bench to provide the extra attacker, Freddie Trimble found Rob Courtman who slotted home from an acute angle to pull the Lions level. The Lions had another 5-on-3 advantage for 54 seconds but the teams remained level at the second interlude.

The third period was a five-goal thriller as the Lions continued to outshoot the Wildcats, just as they had done in the previous two sessions, but the visitors’ netminder was having a good game. Lee Valley edged ahead with a classic breakaway goal. Stas Prokofiev raced down the right wing and put a cross-ice pass right on the stick of Michael Jacobs, who one-timed past Oliver Lansdowne in the Swindon goal.

Things were looking good for seven minutes as the Lions continued to attack, an identical breakaway play again featuring Prokofiev and Jacobs but the shot this time hit the outside of the post. The fans felt that if that one had gone in it would have broken the Wildcats’ resistance, but it was not to be. Instead they came back to equalise on a powerplay as Joe Berry sat out an interference penalty.

Two minutes later and Swindon were ahead as another cruel deflection took a shot away from the Lions’ keeper, one observer behind the goal saying it moved about two feet from its original line. The Lee Valley heads didn’t go down though and the teams were level again within a minute as Scott Beeson celebrated a great come-back goal.

With just five minutes left everyone thought it was time to close up shop, take a point and be grateful. Sadly it seemed the Lee Valley boys had different ideas and pushed forward, leaving the rear totally exposed. They had played a good game but this was tactical suicide and they were swiftly punished for it as the Wildcats robbed the Lions with a last-minute goal in a reverse of the game played recently in Swindon. When the winning goal was scored there was only one Lion positioned within their defensive zone while others were in the other half of the ice. As one observer said, “Maybe the goalie should have saved the last goal, but he should never have been put in that position where he had to make the save.” I imagine that there will be some interesting comments from the coach at the next training session.

It was another entertaining game to watch and although the fans from Lea Bridge Road went home disappointed with the result, they had to agree it had been an exciting game of hockey, full of hits and goals.

Referee was Jorbling and Linesmen were Stephenson and Cooper.

Thanks to Tony Boot for writing this match report.