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Alex Fisher was the MVP for the Cobras against the Raiders (Photo by Scott Dutton)
Sunday 30th March 2025 – Challenge Match: Connah’s Quay Cobras 6 – Riverside Raiders 5
The Connah’s Quay
Cobras picked up a narrow 6-5 victory over local rivals Riverside Raiders in a
challenge match at Deeside Leisure Centre on Sunday.
Games between teams
from Deeside and Widnes are always keenly contested affairs and this was no
different. When the two teams last met –
back in January – they played out a 29 goal thriller with the Raiders just
edging it 14-15 and, while this wasn’t quite the same goalfest, it was just as
close and the result remained in doubt right to the very end.
After a tense opening
phase, the Cobras opened the scoring on 10 minutes with a goal from Alex
Fisher. The lead didn’t last long as
Josh Hartson equalised for the Raiders just 2 minutes later and then edged them
ahead on 18 minutes.
Connah’s Quay drew
level again 90 seconds into the second period with a goal from Paul Jones – who
usually plays as netminder but played out on this occasion to give the two less
experienced goalies a stint between the pipes in this development game – and
they then took the lead at the midway point of the game with a Sam Kennedy
strike.
The Raiders levelled
again just 72 seconds later with a hat-trick goal from Hartson and Eemeli
Vuorohovi fired them back in front on 34 minutes to lead 3-4 at the second
period break.
Despite the narrow
scoreline, the Cobras had the lion’s share of the play throughout the game and
out-shot the Raiders by 46 to 16 over the 60 minutes. The pressure paid off in the third period as
a Ken Valyear goal 90 seconds in put Connah’s Quay back on level terms and Mike
Filek fired them back into the lead 44 seconds after that.
The stubborn Raiders
refused to give in, however, and they equalised again with a goal from Shawn
McBride on 52 minutes, setting up a nerve-jangling finale. The game was settled
by a second goal of the game from Ken Valyear on 57 minutes and the Cobras were
able to celebrate a narrow 6-5 victory.
Miles Radford put in
an impressive performance in the Raiders goal, stopping 40 of the 46 shots that
he faced, while Theo Coulson and Andy Teece shared the netminding for the
Cobras, facing 9 and 7 shots respectively to backstop the win.
The MVP awards were
presented by match volunteer Olivia Crofts and went to Alex Fisher for Connah’s
Quay and Ryan Beardwood for the Raiders.
The Cobras are back
in action on Sunday 13th April when they entertain Don Valley
Vikings in the Summer Classic Cup at Deeside Leisure Centre, 8.30pm face off.
The Cobras lost out to the Vikings by a single goal in the play off final last
year so this game is likely to be just as closely fought.
The full list of
Cobras fixtures for the summer is:
- Sunday 13th April: home v Don Valley Vikings (Cup), 8.30pm
- Sunday 4th May: home v Leeds Lightning (Cup), 8.30pm
- Saturday 17th May: home v Whitley Islanders (Cup), 4.30pm
- Sunday 25th May: home v TBC (Chall), 8.30pm
- Saturday 7th June: home v TBC (Chall), 4.30pm
- Saturday 21st June: away @ Don Valley Vikings (Cup), 8pm
- Saturday 2nd August: away @ Whitley Islanders (Cup), 12 noon
