ENL North round-up week 16

BLACKBURN, UK – ENL1 North leaders Billingham Stars faced Whitley Warriors on Sunday in a thrilling North-East derby at Hillheads. Callum Watson put Warriors in front after seven minutes but Anthony Price

levelled things up in the 13^th minute. Moments later Dean Holland restored the home team’s lead, before Simon Hehir quickly made it 2-2. Both teams were creating chances and Whitley edged back in front after 16 minutes through DJ Good, but Jamie Pattison tied things up at 3-3 by the end of the first. Neither team could find the net in a tense second period, but Stars came out firing in the third with Scott Ward’s 41^st minute strike putting them ahead for the first time. The home team began to get rattled and Stars went further in front on 51 minutes through Michael Elder. Any hopes of a Warriors revival ended as Shaun Kippin and Rob Wilson received ten minute misconduct penalties and Stars cruised over the winning line. Trafford Metros have exceeded expectations this term and went into the weekend looking to cement their play-off hopes. On Saturday they travelled to face a Coventry Blaze team looking to move away from the relegation places. Philip Pollok’s 15^th minute strike gave Blaze the lead and when James Pease doubled the advantage early in the second, Metros lost the plot. Netminder Paul Maudsley was thrown out of the game as a number of fights broke out, leaving Blaze to race away with it. Matt Selby and Rhys McWilliams made it 4-0 in the third before Scott Robson pulled one back. Rikki Bryniarski added a fifth for Blaze to cap an excellent team performance. On Sunday Metros made the short trip to Blackburn to face the Hawks having won their previous two meetings without conceding a goal. TheHawks started on the front foot playing a fast, physical game and it came as no surprise when former Metros forward Jordan Bannon gave them the lead after 11 minutes. Another ex-Trafford man – Brian Worrall – made it 2-0 with a 24^th minute thunderbolt and, once again, Metros discipline let them down. John Murray was ejected from the game after an awful check to the head on Aaron Davies, and Hawks took full advantage with Sami Narkia’s powerplay goal making it 3-0. Chris Arnone added a fourth with a fine individual effort soon after, before Matt Viney and Sam Dunford made it 6-0. Joe Greaves pulled one back for the visitors just before the end of the second, but Hawks Player/Coach Jared Owen rounded off a humiliating night for Metros with two final period goals. The win sees Hawks move level on points with Trafford as the race for the play-offs hots up. Sheffield Spartans play-off push suffered a double blow as they took just one point from a weekend double-header at home. On Saturday they faced Solihull Barons looking to avenge last week’s disappointing 6-3 road loss. Goals from Charlie Hammerton, Erik Bakalar, Andrew Whitehouse and Lee Winwood saw Barons race into a 4-0 lead, but Luke Unwin, Danny Mawer and Ollie Barron brought Spartans back into it by the midway point. Richard Slater and Michael Rodger made it 6-3 to Barons by the end of the second before Nick Manning reduced the deficit early in the third. Bakalar grabbed his second of the night in the 43^rd minute but Spartans came roaring back through Manning and Elliott Knell. With less than a minute on the clock, Shaun Wild made it 7-7 to seal an unlikely comeback. On Sunday the visitors to Sheffield were Telford Titans. Wild put Spartans in front on 23 minutes, but Titans’ new signing Chris Jones set up Paul Rigby for the equaliser a minute later. Karol Jets edged Titans in front in the 32^nd minute and sealed win with his second of the night early in the third. Solihull travelled to Nottingham on Sunday hoping to close the gap on the Lions at the foot of the table, but despite two more goals for Richard Slater were soundly beaten 6-2.Solway Sharks crushed Lancashire Raptors 24-1 to stay unbeaten at the top of ENL2. Nathan Salem scored nine while netminder Gary Russell grabbed five in a rare outing as a forward – Adam Reynolds (4) and Mark Gallagher (3) were also among the scorers. Flintshire Freeze moved back into second place after beating Fylde Flyers 15-6. Simon Furnival (5), James Parsons (3) and Marc Lovell (3) led the scoring for Freeze. Bradford Bulldogs enjoyed a three point weekend with a 5-5 draw at home to Hull Stingrays and an 8-4 road success at Sheffield Senators. Contact the author at: michael.black@prohockeynews.com