Whitley Warriors travelled down to Ice Sheffield on Saturday afternoon to take on the Sutton Sting. Warriors were missing a number of senior players in defence which resulted in forwards Alex Lawson and Harry Harley moving back to the blue line for the match up. Teenage forwards Joe Hall and Connor Shanks both stepped up from the under 18’s to make their senior debuts for Warriors.
Despite being short benched Whitley started the game on the front foot and took the lead with just 62 seconds played when Jamie Tinsley lit the lamp from close range with DJ Good and Callum Watson providing the assists. Sutton were creating plenty of their own chances though and the home side led 2-1 by the 8th minute thanks to efforts from John Ross and Shaun Ashton.
Warriors were not behind for long though as young d man Craig Johnson leveled the scores 2 minutes later when his powerful shot from just inside the blue line flew into the back of the net to the delight of Whitley’s travelling fans. There was no further scoring in the opening period and the 2 sides were level at 2-2 after the opening stanza of action.
It was Sutton who grabbed the early goal in the 2nd session of play through import Slav Movko and the talented Latvian forward made it 4-2 in the Stings favour when he grabbed a superb solo effort later in the middle period. Warriors were creating numerous openings of their own as Adam Reynolds saw his powerful shot cannon against the post and a close range effort from Callum Watson was saved by Sutton’s impressive netminder Dmitri Zimzodra.
Whitley opted to change their netminder for the 3rd period of play with the experienced Richie Lawson taking over from youngster Mark Turnbull in goal. Warriors had the better of the session and Callum Watson made it a one goal game after 51 minutes of play when he fired home after some pleasing build up play from DJ Good and skipper Jamie Tinsley.
With under 2 minutes left in the game Whitley Coach Dave Holland took a time out to outline his tactics to his side. Warriors opted to pull netminder Richie Lawson so they could have the extra out skater in the contest however Warriors were unable to make the extra man count and Sting held on for a narrow 4-3 victory.
Warriors Craig Johnson was chosen as Whitley’s man of the match however every member of the Tynesiders roster gave their all against a strong Sutton side who were at full strength. Sting’s Slav Movko was chosen as the home side’s best player.
Whitley are in action at home at Hillheads ice rink on Sunday evening (5.00pm face off) when the Sheffield Spartans visit Tyneside for a NIHL North Division 1 match up.