ROMFORD, UK – EPL cellar-dwellers Romford Raiders almost defied the odds this weekend as they pushed Milton Keynes and Peterborough Phantoms to their limits before eventually falling to defeats.
Romford have been having a terrible season so far, and their recent results have been horribly one-sided. However, their players haven’t given up yet, and they put on a good show for their fans this weekend.
Their first game of the weekend was at home against league-leaders Milton Keynes Lightning, who have been nothing short of sensational so far this season and were eight points clear of nearest rivals Slough Jets going into the weekend. Despite this the Raiders shot into a 3-0 lead with goals from Matt Turner, Dallas Costanzo and Paris. At the end of the first Romford were still ahead, but Lukas Zatopek and Andre Smulter brought the score to 3-2.
At the end of the second the shortbenched Raiders were on level terms with the visitors. Lightning’s impressive Swedish import forward Monir Kalgoum scored two to put his team ahead, before Romford’s Darius Pliskauskas tied it up at 4-4 going into the third.
Unfortunately for the Raiders their players tired as Milton Keynes found a higher gear, and the Lightning eventually ran out 8-4 winners, with their third period goals coming from Mike Wales, Smulter and two more from Kalgoum.
The next night Romford travelled to Peterborough to face the Phantoms, with just nine skaters and two goalies. Injuries and suspensions meant that they were without several key players, including Frankie Harvey, Captain Danny Marshall, Tyrone Miller and import defenceman Jon Sitko amongst others.
Despite this the Raiders produced a great display, and lead the Phantoms 3-2 at the end of the second period (goals from Turner, Costanzo and Pliskauskas – James Morgan and James Knight for Peterborough). However it was inevitable that, with so few players, Romford would run out of steam. And so it proved, as the Phantoms managed to scrape a 7-5 victory, Pliskauskas and Turner each adding a second goal in the third period for the Gold and Blue.
Sladok played almost all the game
The star of the show for Romford though was 6ft 5 import defenceman Jozef Sladok. The Slovakian was the only natural defenceman for the Raiders and played around 57 minutes for his team, not leaving the ice at all in the third period. That kind of performance is very rarely seen in hockey these days, and shows an incredible level of fitness on Sladok’s part.
Regardless of the two defeats, Romford will be happy with the weekend’s performances, and if they can produce similar performances for the rest of the season they may even pick up a few more wins.
Contact the author dave.lambert@prohockeynews.com
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