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| Mikey Gilbert scored in both Wild games at the weekend (Photo by David Tattum) |
Saturday 16th November – NIHL Moralee Division: Billingham Stars 15 – Widnes Wild 2
Sunday 17th November – NIHL Moralee Division: Widnes Wild 2 – Sheffield Scimitars 5
The Widnes Wild NIHL team had a disappointing weekend with back to back defeats, losing 15-2 away to Billingham Stars on Saturday and then 2-5 at home to Sheffield Scimitars on Sunday at Planet Ice Widnes.
The away trip to the North East to face the league leaders was always going to be a tough one and the Wild were outplayed pretty much from the start.
The first period ended 5-1 to the home team, with a solitary strike from Bailey Thomson being just enough to keep Widnes in the running. By the end of the second period, the score was 10-2 – with Mikey Gilbert adding to the Wild total - and then 5 unanswered goals for the Stars in the third saw them romp to an emphatic victory.
Sunday’s home game against fellow strugglers Sheffield looked to be considerably more winnable but a short benched Widnes – missing a number of key players – never really managed to get going.
After a tense opening spell, the Scimitars opened the scoring in the 15th minute and led 0-2 at the first interval.
This game was littered with niggly penalties for both sides and Widnes seemed unable to build up any kind of momentum. The only goal of the second period fell to former Wild player George Crawshaw and the score stood at 0-3 with 20 minutes left to play.
Mikey Gilbert gave the home fans some hope with a Widnes goal 2 minutes into the third period but Sheffield struck back to re-establish the three goal cushion.
Matty Barlow fired in his first goal since returning to the Wild for his third spell last week to narrow the score to 2-4 but Widnes got caught out while pushing forward to try and salvage something from the game and a 5th goal for the visitors late on killed off any lingering hopes.
The weekend results leave the Wild languishing at the bottom of the Moralee Division table with just 2 points from their 14 league games to date. Leeds Knights are in 9th place - 5 points ahead, having played the same number of games.
The Wild are away to local rivals Deeside Dragons this Sunday 24th November - 5.15pm - face off and are next at home on Sunday 1st December when they take on Whitley Warriors at Planet Ice Widnes, 5.30pm face off.
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The Wild Junior Academy had 4 teams playing away at the weekend.
The Academy Under 18 team won 1-7 away to Manchester Storm on Saturday and The Under 10s played a cross-ice tournament against Manchester and Leeds at Altrincham on the same day. Under 10s games are played for fun and no scores are recorded.
The Under 12 team lost 6-3 away to Sheffield U12s, also on Saturday while on Sunday, the Academy Under 14 team lost 8-2 away to Leeds.
The Wild Academy are always keen to recruit new players across all age groups from Under 10 to Under 18 and hold training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Planet Ice Widnes.
Separate “Learn To Play” sessions are also available for anybody new who would like to take up the sport. For more information, contact Academy Head Coach mike.gilbert@wildacademy.co.uk
