Peterborough Islanders 3, Chelmsford Chieftains 6
EARLY suggestions were that Chieftains would struggle with such a short bench against 18 Islanders players in Saturday’s English National League One (South) clash.
However, those fears were quickly quashed when a nice pass from Alex Staples allowed Danny Hammond and Nathanael Williams to set up James Ayling for his first goal in over a month.
Chieftains were showing their superiority, despite the shortness of numbers and added a second when debutant Grant Bartlett snuck a shot in at the near post. Just over four minutes later and it was 0-3 when Jerry Pavlus continued his good form and tore up the Islanders defence and flicked it past Wren with some ease. Former Chieftain Ross MacKintosh reduced the deficit when a mistake on the Chieftains blueline allowed him a clear shot into the top corner past Ben Clements.
Grant Bartlett wasn't finished making a nuisance of himself and had words with the Islanders Dan Needham and earnt himself a penalty, but drew Needham into a 2+10 penalty meaning he would sit for the rest of the period and almost half of the second.
Straight off the bat in the second period and Islanders were within one goal when Callum Worthington-Evans was set up by Mackintosh and Worth to score. A few minutes later and referee Will Hewitt awarded a dubious penalty shot against Aaron Connolly and MacKintosh stepped up but Clements had a routine save to make and kept his team in the lead. This seemed to fire up the Chieftains again and a powerplay opportunity was taken on 26.04 when Ayling got his second with a nice backhand into the top corner. 80 seconds went past and it was 2-5 when Darren Brown was set up by Pavlus and Novak and he made no mistake in firing it past the helpless Wren.
Chieftains then ran into penalty trouble and the final period was just over a minute old and the gloves were off with Blaho Novak and Dale Jowett having a scrap behind the Islanders goal with Novak getting in the most punches and the takedown for a convincing win, much to the delight of the away fans and his teammates. Jowett was also involved in an incident about 10 minutes later when he got mixed up with Brown and drew himself a 2+10 high sticking call.
Chieftains were pegged back a few minutes later with the Islanders again battling to within two goals when Mackintosh got his second, although many questioned the legitimacy of the goal as the net appeared off its moorings. Darren Brown invoked the ire of Craig Lazenby on 56.22 and Lazenby threw down his gloves and began to tee off on Brown, who was covering up for all he was worth and didn't throw a punch. Lazenby ended up being awarded two match penalties for his actions.
There was still time for one final goal as Pavlus and Ayling teamed up again for the Slovakian to net his second of the night. The man of the match award went to Alex Staples for a solid performance on the Chieftains defensive line.
After the game, coach Dean Birrell said: “I am pleased we got the win tonight in difficult circumstances. It wasn’t good being so short on players, but all the missing players had a legit reason for not attending.
On Sunday Chelmsford are at home to Haringey Greyhounds, face-off 6.30pm.
l Invicta Dynamos clinched the English National League 1 (South) title with a 5-2 win on the Isle of Wight. The result also means Wightlink Raiders are almost certain to finish sixth in the table, joining Chieftains who are likely to be fourth and Cardiff ENL Devils in a play-off group