Romford finally win, and in style!

ROMFORD, UK – English Premier League outfit Romford Raiders finally won their first game of the season, destroying Swindon Wildcats 8-3. The weekend started badly for the Raiders, as they succumbed to their 14th loss of the season against former Elite League side Basingstoke Bison. It was always going to be difficult game for a shortbenched Romford side, and so it proved as the Bison shot into a 4-0 lead inside 11 minutes. Raiders showed glimpses of promise and pulled it back to 7-4 in the second period, but Basingstoke showed their class in the end, winning 12-4. However the day after this heavy defeat, Romford picked themselves up to grab their first win of the season at home against Swindon. Young Raiders forward Frankie Harvey had a good game, scoring two and adding an assist, and new import forward Mikko Silvennoinen also put up a goal and three assists. Aaron Nell, Raimonds Danilics and Jozef Kohut pulled goals back for the Wildcats, but Romford captain Danny Marshall was the star of the show as he returned to form with a bang, registering a goal and five assists.

Of the weekend’s action, Romford coach Jesse Hammill said: “The Basingstoke game actually went quite well overall. I know a score line of 12-4 sounds bad, but we outshot them in the game and 21-8 in the second period. It just seemed that every time they came forward they were a threat. At 7-4 we had a four-on-three powerplay and gave up 2 shorthanded goals when I felt we really had taken control of the game and had a shot of getting back in it, but we didn’t. “After the Bison game I just told the players the same thing I’ve been saying for the last few weeks – teams don’t like it when you take their time and space away. We need to take the game to teams and play effectively in their end of the ice to make it difficult for them to play offense, and that’s what we did against Swindon. I think it was a really top performance from a very shortbenched team.  Too many guys to mention had great games, and everyone played their part in a great team effort.” Hammill added: “It’s a great feeling to get this first win, and to be fair it has been coming. But we are far from out of the woods, and we need to build on this to be successful.” There has also been a lot of movement from the Raiders off the ice. They recently announced the release of defensemen Adam Copland and Ryan Giles, who both arrived at Romford this season from ENL side Invicta Dynamos. Copland only managed three games this season before picking up an injury, while Giles was forced to quit after finding it difficult to manage the travel to Romford. These releases have left the Raiders desperately short on defence, as they now have only three defensemen taking a regular shift, while Hammill is deputising on defence until a new import is found. On the search for new players, particularly the elusive fourth import, Hammill said: “We’re trying to bring new faces in but we are finding it difficult to match offers by other teams. I hope we’ll have news on a new import soon.” One player that has been added in the meantime is Grant Taylor. The gritty 24 year-old returns to the Raiders having come through their youth system. Taylor is excellent on the penalty-kill and has become an accomplished third-line centre, while also putting up a career-high 23 points last season. A Romford spokesman said: “Grant was part of Jesse’s original team plan but a number of issues, mainly connected with work commitments, made that impossible at the start of the season. The situation has changed now and we’re pleased to welcome Grant back home. “By itself we know the return of Grant Taylor won’t turn our season around, but it’s another box we can tick in the overall plan to change things for the better. More changes will follow with only the timings to be determined,” he concluded. Contact the author dave.lambert@prohockeynews.com