Wild attack the net away at Whitley Bay (Photo by Ste Cunningham) |
Saturday 23rd September 2023 – Moralee Division: Whitley Warriors 4 – Widnes Wild 1
The YKK Widnes Wild lost their first away game of the new Moralee Division season 4-1 to early season title favourites Whitley Warriors in the North East on Saturday evening.
The game was littered with minor penalties throughout and these constant disruptions made it difficult for the Wild team to build up any sort of rhythm.
Whitley took the lead on 3 minutes and, despite plenty of huffing and puffing by both sides, the score remained 1-0 to the hosts at the first period break.
5 minutes into the second period, Widnes slipped further behind to a powerplay goal but they finally found the back of the net in the 35th minute with a tap in from Mikey Gilbert after a great pass from player coach Joey Coulter. Unfortunately, the Warriors restored the 2-goal cushion just 2 minutes later and the score stood at 3-1 after two periods.
A rush of penalties early in the third period saw the Wild facing a 3 on 5 powerplay and they conceded a Penalty Shot while trying to defend against a Whitley attack. That shot was converted to give the Warriors a 4-1 lead and it turned out to be the last scoring action of the game.