Bez Hughes scored what would turn out to be the Wild's game winning goal away at Nottingham (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies)
Sunday 10th December – Moralee Division: Nottingham Lions 2 – Widnes Wild 5
The Widnes Wild NIHL team had a mixed weekend losing 1-5 at home to Whitley Warriors at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday and then winning 2-5 on the road away to Nottingham Lions on Sunday.
Sunday’s match away in the Lace City was a “must win” game for the Wild as defeat at the hands of the league’s cellar dwellers would have seen them slump to the bottom of the Moralee Division table for the first time ever.
The game started well for Widnes with a goal from Kyle Carruth on 6 minutes and the score remained 0-1 at the first period break. Rhys Edwards doubled the Wild’s lead on 25 minutes and Bez Hughes made it 0-3 to the Wild 3 minutes later.
A series of niggly penalties interrupted the Wild’s momentum after this and Nottingham eventually scored a goal of their own on 50 minutes. The Lions struck again on 56 minutes to narrow the score to 2-3 and set up a tense finale.
The clock ticked down to the last minute with Nottingham pushing for a late equaliser but Nathan Britton once again put daylight between the two teams with 53 seconds left to play. Then just 22 seconds later, Bailey Thomson scored his first goal for the Wild – into an empty Lions net - to ensure victory for Widnes.
The weekend’s results mean that the Wild now have 5 wins from their 17 league games to date and, with 10 points on the board, are 3 ahead of bottom two Nottingham and Sheffield in the Moralee Division table.
They are next in action this Saturday 16th December when they make the trip to face Sheffield Scimitars at iceSheffield. They are at home the next day, Sunday 17th December to Billingham Stars in what will be their last match of 2023, face off 5.30pm.
