Jemma Brown was the Wild Women’s MVP against Whitley (Photo by Mark Bird Sports Photography)
Sunday 24th November 2024 – WNIHL Division 2 North: Widnes Wild Women 6 – Whitley Bay Beacons 5
The Widnes Wild Women’s team won their first home game of the season by the narrowest of margins with a 6-5 victory over Whitley Bay Beacons at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
This was a highly entertaining match to watch with plenty of end to end action throughout and numerous chances for both sides.
Whitley had the better of the first period, outshooting the Wild women by some 2 to 1. They took the lead in the 10th minute and were 0-2 up by the first period break.
Widnes visibly upped their game in the second period and pulled a goal back through Jemma Brown on 27 minutes, however, that was the only goal action of the second period and the score stood 1-2 to the Beacons with 20 minutes left to play.
The third period saw a veritable scoring-fest, with 8 goals being fired in, and the result remaining open to question until the very last seconds.
Whitley scored again just 34 seconds in to lead 1-3 but 2 goals within a minute of each other - from team captain Charlotte Cramp and Phoebe Patient – saw the Wild Women draw level.
Just when it looked as if Widnes would go on to take control of the match, Katie Fairclough picked up a game misconduct penalty for slashing and the Wild women had to play 5 minutes shorthanded. Despite coming under intense pressure, they managed to weather this storm with staunch team defending and netminder Stephanie Drinkwater performing heroics in the Widnes goal.
A strike from Leen de Decker on 52 minutes put Widnes ahead for the first time in the game and a second goal from Cramp just 27 seconds after that extended the home advantage. Two goals from Whitley levelled the score again but Leen de Decker fired home the winning goal with just over 2 minutes left on the clock.
The Wild Women are next in action on Saturday 7th December when they make the long journey north of the border to play the Caledonia Steel Queens in Edinburgh, 4pm face off, and are next at home on Sunday 15th December when they take on Sheffield Shadows at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.25pm start.
