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| Ross Kennedy scored a hat-trick against Hull on Sunday (Photo by Angel Devlin Sports Photography) |
Saturday
28th February 2026 – NIHL Moralee Division: Nottingham Lions 2 - Deeside D1 Dragons 5
Sunday
1st March 2026 – NIHL Moralee Division: Deeside D1 Dragons 8 – Hull Jets 2
The Deeside D1 Dragons consolidated their hold on
second place in the NIHL Moralee Division table with a six point weekend,
winning 2-5 away at Nottingham Lions on Saturday and beating Hull Jets 8-2 at
Deeside Leisure Centre on Sunday.
The Dragons had won their three previous games
against Nottingham this season quite comfortably but, with the Lions chasing a
playoff spot, Saturday’s early face off game was a much tougher proposition.
It took until the 17th minute for Jake Witkowski
to open the scoring for the Dragons but despite the Dragons outshooting the
Lions by almost 2 to 1, that was the only goal of the first period.
Ross Kennedy doubled the Deeside lead on 22 minutes
but Nottingham pulled a goal back to leave the score at the second break
standing at 1-2.
The Dragons had more of the play in the third
period – outshooting the Lions by an incredible 24 to 4 - and their efforts
were rewarded with goals from Witkowski, Rhys Edwards and Damarni James.
Nottingham managed another goal on 55 minutes to
round off the scoring for the game. Rhys Edwards was named MVP for the Dragons.
Sunday’s game against Hull was expected to be the
tougher of the two weekend fixtures, with each side having one win each to date
and both encounters having been won by a single goal margin. However, the Jets
had exerted themselves to beat recently crowned league champions Blackburn
Hawks 5-3 the night before and, after a close start, seemed to run out of steam
Ross Kennedy opened the scoring for the Dragons in
the 10th minute but Hull equalised just 2 minutes later. Deeside edged back into the lead again with a
second Kennedy goal just 37 seconds
after that and then weathered a disallowed Hull goal to take a 2-1 lead into the
first break.
The second period was pretty much all Deeside and
unanswered goals from Colin Cromie, Theo Malone, Matty Barlow and a hat trick
strike from Kennedy saw them leading 6-1 at the second interval.
Hull finally managed a second goal late in the
third period but the Dragons had scored two more by then – both short-handed
efforts – from Cromie and Jake Witkowski, to round off an emphatic victory.
It was a good all-round team performance, with 10
different players getting on the scoresheet, and MJ Clancy was named both MVP
for the match and Player of the Month for February.
Following the weekend results across the league,
Deeside remain in second place in the Moralee Division table with 73 points
from 32 games They are now eight points ahead of Telford in third – who are
their main rivals for the runners up position – after the Tigers dropped a
point by only managing an overtime win against Widnes on Sunday.
Telford have two games in hand, however, and Deeside’s
away game down in Shropshire on 14th March could go a long way towards
deciding who will finish second this season and, following the Dragons’ recent cup
final win over the Tigers, that game is bound to have extra spice.
Before that, the D1 Dragons are away in Hull this
Sunday 8th March, 5.30pm face off. They are next at home on Saturday
21st March when they play their last regular season game against
Billingham Stars at Deeside Leisure Centre.
After
a weekend without a game, the D2 Dragons are also away in Hull this Sunday 8th
March to face Kingston Sharks in a 12 noon face off and are back at home the
following Sunday, 15th March, when they entertain Billingham
Buccaneers at Deeside Leisure Centre.
