Laidler Conference Round Up - Weekend of 9th & 10th January 2016

Widnes netminder Greg Ruxton remains cool during an end of period fracas
in the local derby game against Altrincham Aces  

Deeside Dragons surely took another two steps towards securing their first league title in over 20 years with a 4 point weekend. On Saturday night they beat Blackburn Eagles 10-3 at home and then won 2-8 away at hitherto title challengers Nottingham Lions on Sunday. Those results mean that they are now 11 points clear of 2^nd place Widnes Wild, albeit having played 3 games more.

The Wild had a busy weekend, making their first ever visit to Billingham on Saturday night to play the Stars in the NIHL Cup.  The result 7-3 defeat was no disgrace against a team from a higher division and provided a good work out ready for the local derby on Sunday.  Wild played host to local rivals Altrincham Aces on Sunday night and came out 9-1 winners, although the game was very well contested throughout and wasn’t truly reflected by the eventual scoreline.      Geoff Wigglesworth scored 4+2 against his old team and the single Aces goal was scored by handy looking Lithuanian forward Deivid Cetvertak. 

In the other Laidler game of the weekend, bottom team Coventry Blaze picked up a rare win – beating Hull Jets 2-1.  It was the Blaze’s first win since beating Bradford back at the start of October and moved them to within a point of the Bulldogs who they have to play twice more this season.