ROMFORD,U.K- It has been yet another eventful few weeks for the gold and blue of Romford Raiders.
Just before Christmas, the Raiders faced Sheffield Scimitars, a team performing 
well below expectations after a strong campaign last year. Raiders lost 6-2, with the manner of defeat more concerning, as they gave up two shorthanded goals on the same powerplay, and looked fairly lacklustre, rarely threatening former goalie Mark Lee in the Scimitars net.
The following night Raiders played host to high flying Peterborough Phantoms, who are pushing league leaders Guildford Flames all the way at the top of the table.
Phantoms have put together a formidable roster boasting a core of solid Brits, including free-scoring defensemen James Hutchinson and James Morgan, and some top class imports such as Brent Gough and Nathan Rempel. Raiders fans could be forgiven for any apprehension before the game.
The game started as expected, with the Phantoms finding their feet early and tearing into a 2-0 lead that they maintained until the end of the first period. New Raiders signing Glen Jackson started in goal and was left exposed several times by a depleted defence of only three, including forward Andrei Sporina who was playing out of position.
The second period showed a huge improvement as the Raiders looked fired up, and they quickly got back into the game with goals from Darren Cotton and a sublime finish by the impressive Scott Mackenzie. Phantoms hit back with a long range effort that Jackson will have been disappointed with, before giant Czech defenseman Jan Krajicek scored with a bullet of a slap shot into the bottom corner to make the score 3-3 at the end of the second.
Romford kept up their improved effort in the third and added another two goals, before the Phantoms got a late goal to set up a nervous end to the game. Netminder Stephen Wall was pulled but to no avail as the Raiders held on for a 5-4 win against the league’s in form team.
Krajicek was excellent for the Raiders, living up to the hype and controlling the puck in his own zone while contributing to the offense. Evander Grinnell also had a good game. The youngster got regular shifts on the second line and did not look out of place. All in all it was a very positive end to 2008 to give the Raiders’ long suffering fans some hope for the new year. 2009 started with a home game against Telford Tigers, a team that are having a much improved year following some disappointing seasons. Unfortunately the match had to be called off, as the Tigers coach broke down on the motorway, and they would have been unable to arrive in time with the rink being booked up later in the evening. It has not yet been announced if the fixture will be re-played or if points will be awarded to the Raiders. A Romford spokesman said: “We pay an unbelievable amount for ice time here and incidents like this really hurt us financially.” After the frustration of the previous evening, the Raiders travelled to Peterborough on Sunday to try and repeat their heroics of their previous fixture. This didn’t go to plan, and they were destroyed 11-2, as they found the Phantoms in excellent form. On the back of this result, the club made two announcements. The first was the departure of import defenseman Christoffer Drugge, who only managed a handful of games for the club before being hit by injury. This will free up a spot for the Raiders to bring in a new import should finances permit. The second announcement was the immediate departure of Coach Warren Rost. The statement from the club said that Rost had “decided to stand down from his position”, while there was speculation of Rost not having the full backing of some of the players in the dressing room.
New Head-coach Jesse Hammill
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