The victorious Cobras team away at Leeds (Photo by Cobras IHC)
Saturday 15th
March 2025 – Summer Classic Cup: Leeds Lightning 4 –
Connah’s Quay Cobras 15
The
Connah’s Quay Cobras opened their 2025 Summer Classic Cup campaign with a
comprehensive 4-15 win away to Leeds Lightning on Saturday.
The Cobras squad this season has been boosted by a number of new signings including former Deeside Dragon Tomas Mitrik - who won the Laidler Division title with Blackburn Eagles and also enjoyed stints with Altrincham Aces and Bradford Bulldogs - and former Flintshire Phantom Juraj Martonik.
Another former Dragon, Pete Gazda, returns to the Cobras line up for this year and, along with Sam Kennedy, Sam Plant, Paul Jones, Sam Krempasky, Mike Jones, Brad Commins, Chris Keating, Gez Evans and Emma Dutton, completes for now the ex-league contingent of the impressive Connah’s Quay roster.
This year the Summer Cup competition sees the Cobras in the Elite Group where they will take on the Don Valley Vikings – who they narrowly lost out to in the play off final last year – Leeds Lightning and Whitley Bay Islanders.
The four teams will play each other home and away in a group format and the top two teams will progress to a play off weekend in Sheffield at the end of August.
The game in Leeds on Saturday was pretty close in its early stages. Sam Kennedy gave the Cobras the lead after just 50 seconds and the score stood at 2-4 at the first break. Connah’s Quay pulled away in the second period bringing the score to 4-11 and four unanswered goals in the third rounded off an impressive victory.
Martin Rybka top scored for Connah’s Quay with 5 goals and 3 assists, Kennedy added 2+2 and Mitrik was also among the scorers with 1+1. Martonik scored 2+1 and was named MVP for the Cobras.
The Cobras have a development game at Deeside Leisure Centre on Sunday 30th March and are back in cup action on Sunday 13th April when they are at home to Don Valley Vikings.
