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| Dragons' netminder Tyler de la Bertouche was in fine form over the weekend (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies) |
Saturday 13th December 2025 – NIHL Moralee Division: Leeds Knights 2 - Deeside D1 Dragons 11
Sunday 14th December 2025 – NIHL Moralee Division: Deeside D1 Dragons 7 – Solihull Barons 3
The Deeside Dragons moved up to second place in the Moralee Division after
a six point weekend that saw them win 2-11 away to Leeds Knights on Saturday
and then 7-3 at home to Solihull Barons on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.
Despite the final scoreline the Leeds game on Saturday was very close in
its early stages and the Knights actually opened the scoring just 70 seconds
in.
Deeside equalised with a goal from Colin Cromie in the 5th minute but
Leeds edged ahead again and it needed an 18th minute strike from
Rhys Edwards to send the Dragons into the first break level pegging at 2-2.
Matty Barlow put Deeside into the lead for the first time on 23 minutes
and further unanswered goals from Ross Kennedy, Cromie again and two from Jake
Witkowski saw the Dragons leading 2-7 at the second interval.
It was the same story in the third period, with Deeside out-shooting the
Knights by some margin and goals from Kennedy (2) and Witkowski rounding off
hat-tricks for each player. A second of the night for Edwards on 53 minutes proved
to be the last goal of the game.
But it wasn’t all about scoring goals and this was certainly a joint effort
by the whole team. Tyler de la Bertouche put in another solid performance in
the Deeside net keeping out 24 of the 26 shots that he faced and Ryan Jones was
named MVP for his sterling contribution in defence.
Sunday’s keenly anticipated “second v third” encounter against Solihull turned
out to be a real “old school” game with lots of penalties and plenty of goals.
Deeside got off to a dream start with Dan Fadejevs giving them the lead on
3 minutes. Three more unanswered goals followed – from Matty Barlow, Damarni
James and Henry Phillips to give the Dragons a 4-0 lead at the first period
break.
The second period saw an unbelievable number of penalties handed out to
both sides – so much that there was hardly any room in the penalty boxes.
A huge fight broke out at 29.42 which saw three players from each side sent
to the sin bins and the immediate aftermath of this saw a goal from Jake Witkowski
on 30 minutes and two quick fire strikes within 13 seconds of each other on 31
minutes - from Colin Cromie and Jared Dickinson – to give Deeside a 7-0 lead.
Solihull finally opened their own account on 35 minutes but the score stood
at healthy looking 7-1 to Deeside at the second interval.
The Barons scored again on 42 minutes but it wasn’t enough to spark a late
fight back and another highly entertaining, penalty-riddled period followed.
Solihull scored the final goal of the game with 70 seconds left on the clock
but the Dragons had the last laugh as they were able to celebrate their 7th
win in a row.
In contrast to Saturday’s game, Tyler de la Bertouche was the busier of the
netminders on the night, with Deeside being outshot by 38 to 50, but he kept 47
of them out to be named MVP for the Dragons.
Following their two weekend victories, the Dragons move up into second place
in the Moralee Division table with 44 points from 20 games, leapfrogging Solihull
who drop into third who have 43 points from the same number of games.
Blackburn Hawks still lead the table with 54 points from 20 games after a
narrow 0-1 win away over Widnes on Sunday.
The Dragons play their last game of 2025 this Sunday 21st
December when they travel to the north east to take on defending champions Billingham
Stars, who they beat 10-6 at Deeside two weeks ago.
They are next at home on Sunday 4th January when they entertain Nottingham Lions at Deeside Leisure Centre.
