Derby win seals silverware for Raiders

ROMFORD, UK – Romford Raiders overcame a 5-2 deficit to defeat the Chelmsford Chieftains and claim the season’s first silverware, the South East Trophy, at the Riverside on Saturday. With home and away wins over the Isle Of Wight and Invicta Dynamos to their credit, Raiders knew that victory in Chelmsford would give them an unassailable lead in the four-team cup competition following the Chieftains opening loss to the Dynamos earlier this month. Danny Marshall returned to the Raiders line-up after missing the previous weekend’s action through injury, while Tom Long skated for the Chieftains despite needing nearly 30 stitches to his lip last week. After Long had given the Chieftains an early first-period lead on a delayed penalty call, Marshall and Grant Taylor scored to put Raiders ahead at the first intermission. Danny Hammond, Jakub Klima and Gary Clarke (2) tallied as Chieftains swiftly moved 5-2 ahead, before Matt Turner, Jason Buckman and Billy Phillips pulled Raiders level with three goals in 57 seconds toward the end of the second period. Crucially it was Raiders that struck early in the final period, Juraj Huska and JJ McGrath bagging a quickfire pair as Romford held on for a 7-5 win and their first silverware of the season. Sunday saw Raiders return to league action against basement boys Bracknell Hornets at Rom Valley Way. Nine different goalscorers tallied in an 11-3 win, while Glen Jackson deputised in goal for the rested Michael Gray and Danny Marshall sat out the game after his excursions in Chelmsford the night before. Raiders top line of Huska, Turner and AJ Smith combined for four goals and 12 points as Bracknell spent large swathes of the game camped in their own end. Tom Fisher gave Bracknell the early lead, beating Jackson on a breakaway after a fine outlet pass from Michael Plenty dissected the Raiders defence. It didn’t last long though as Juraj Huska levelled things up on the powerplay from Billy Phillips cross-ice pass. Huska would hit the post from the blueline soon after, before Julian Smith’s first of the season fired Raiders ahead for the first time. Tom Carroll’s slapshot knotted the scores as Bracknell cashed in on the powerplay, though Phillips staked Raiders ahead again with a screamer from the blueline that crashed in off Adam Marash’s crossbar. Turner made it 4-2 on an early second-period powerplay, backhanding home Huska’s setup from in front, and Grant Taylor got on the board as Raiders began to run up the score. AJ Smith, Tom Davis and Andrius Kaminskas all got in on the action, before Huska bagged his second of the game, forcing the puck in short-side after evading the Bracknell defence. Matt Passmore replaced Marash in the Hornets’ goal at the start of the third period, and though captain Anthony Leone was able to cash in on a pair of rebounds in the final 20 minutes, Passmore’s fine saves denied Raiders a far greater margin of victory than the 11-3 win they were forced to settle for; Danny Hughes scoring the lone Bracknell goal just four seconds into the period. Raiders will look to continue their good form this weekend as they travel to the Isle of Wight on Saturday before welcoming the in-form Cardiff Devils to Rom Valley Way on Sunday (5:15pm). Contact the author – alex.nunn@prohockeynews.com