SLOUGH, UK – Cheered on by a noisy band of their well travelled supporters the Sheffield Scimitars pulled off an unexpected but well deserved win against the Slough Jets. Playing with only two imports as Ben Bowns replaced Pasi Raitenen between the pipes the Scims thoroughly outplayed the highly ranked hosts from the opening face off
The visitors were two goals to the good within the opening forty five seconds and never relinquished control of the match from that point on. Peter Slamiar and Matt Haywood provided the early strikes. James Archer added a third and the Scims ended the first period deservedly in control.
Slough opened their account early in the second through Joe Greener and for a brief period it looked as if the Jets might make a match of it. However the Scims were not to be denied as goals from Stephen Wallace, Aaron Strawson and another by James Archer put the Yorkshire team in total control. Jets Goalkeeper Greg Rockman pulled himself after the sixth goal having had a miserable night and was replaced by youngster Charles Kaylor. Debutant Slava Koulikov scored a second for the Jets before Matt Heywood scored his second and the Scimitars seventh to complete the scoring for the second period.
The third period was largely uneventful as the visitors were content to play out the match and the Jets struggled to find any fluency in their play. Jan Melichar netted a consolation goal near the end to make the final score Slough Jets 3 Sheffield Scimitars 7. A scoreline which flattered the home team if anybody, and sent the disappointingly small Jets support home unhappy.
The Jets seemed to be affected by the rearranging of the lines to incorporate new signing Slava Koulikov. Koulikov started on the first line but by the end of the match was switching between the second and third lines as the coach, Pete Russell, varied things to try and find an effective combination. There were no such worries for the Sheffield coaching staff as the Scims young hard skating team showed that there in no need to rely on imports to win games in the EPL.
On Sunday the Jets found winning form again winning on the road 4-2 at the Romford Raiders. The Scimitars continued their good form with a 5-3 home win against the Basingstoke Bison.
Contact the author Dave.Logan@Prohockeynews.com
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