Sunday 26th October – Moralee Division: Billingham Stars 12 – Widnes Wild 2
Will Harper was the Wild MVP away
at Billingham – photo by Dave Arrowsmith
The Widnes Wild NIHL team slumped to a 12-2 defeat away to league leaders Billingham Stars on Sunday.
Despite the eventual scoreline, the game started quite well for the Wild. Billingham took the lead on 5 minutes but Conner McNulty equalised with a superbly taken breakaway goal on 7 minutes.
Two more goals for the Stars saw the home side leading 3-1 at the first period break but Widnes looked far from out of the game at this stage.
The Wild halved the deficit two minutes into the second period when Kyle Carruth picked up a rebound off the Billingham netminder and slotted it into the net to pull the score back to 3-2.
The Stars scored again to restore the 2-goal cushion just 60 seconds later and this sparked a disastrous spell for the Wild as they conceded a further 5 unanswered goals to trail 9-2 at the second interval.
Three further goals followed for Billingham in the third period to round off a disappointing night on Teesside for Widnes.
The result means that the Stars have done an early season “double” over the Wild, having won the first meeting between the teams 1-9 at Widnes back in October, and the final score of 12-2 represents the Wild’s heaviest defeat in the league since they lost by the same margin to Solihull Barons in March 2014.
The Wild are next in action this weekend, Saturday and Sunday 2nd and 3rd December, with a tantalising home double header when they take on local rivals Deeside Dragons in back to back fixtures. The game on the Saturday evening (7pm face off) is the Wild’s first match in the triangular M56 Cup series, which also features the Blackburn Hawks, while the game on the Sunday is a league fixture, facing off at 5.30pm.
A special ticket offer is available for the two weekend games with a saving over the normal single match price. Double header offer tickets must be purchased in advance via the Wild ticketing website at: https://iceaccount.co.uk/widnes-wild
