Monday 30 November 2015

Match Report: Chelmsford Warriors 9 - Haringey Racers 1

A poor, ill-disciplined performance from the Racers returned a heavy defeat at league leaders Chelmsford Warriors.

The first period went well enough with both teams continuing the tight, competitive hockey from the previous week’s game. A Warriors goal from Ross Cowan in the 15th minute was matched by an effort from Dan Clayton for the Racers in the 20th minute leaving the game nicely poised at 1-1 after an entertaining session.

Haringey lost their way from that point on. At times this Warriors team can be a shade too fast for the Racers and they can therefore punish any lack of defensive shape with their slick play. The Haringey players and bench also seemed to be affected by some inconsistent refereeing and lost their discipline, taking a string of slashing, cross-checking and elbows penalties, some of which were simply petulant. Warriors goals from Brandon Ayliffe, Edward Lay and Jake Sylvester (x2) opened up a 5-1 lead by the end of the second period.

A multi-player brawl formed part of an ugly third period with Drew Campbell and Alastair Band perhaps lucky to get away with lenient 2+2+10 calls. There were also two unfortunate (and separate) blood injuries to Warriors’ Will Polston and Racers’ Jack Ball late in the game – with the necessary Match Penalties going to Lee Mercer and Sylvester respectively. Around these incidents, Chelmsford added four more goals, all on the power-play, with Taylor Ross, Sylvester (x2) and Ethan Boolkah finding the net.

Racers travel to Peterborough on Saturday 5th December for a game against the Islanders (face-off 5pm) and will be looking for a significant improvement.

Warriors scoring: Jake Sylvester 4+0, Brandon Ayliffe 1+2, Edward Lay 1+2, Ross Cowan 1+1, Taylor Ross 1+0, Ethan Boolkah 1+0, Ellis Swainsbury 0+2, Donald Campbell 0+2, Will Polston 0+1
Racers scoring: Dan Clayton 1+0, Drew Campbell 0+1, Josh Ealey-Newman 0+1
Shots on goal: 32 on Sonny Phillips (Warriors) / 51 on Niks Trapans (Racers)

Reporter: Tim Stuart