Warriors were able to bring Dan Harris, Paul Matthews, Richie Lawson and Martin Crammond back into their line up for Sunday nights NIHL North league clash with the Sheffield Spartans. Whitley were without power forward Jordan Barnes though after he was injured during the warm up period during the St Andrews Cup tie the previous evening.
Warriors started the game positively and Simon Leach’s side took the lead just 5 minutes into the match up when Callum Watson netted on the powerplay after being set up precisely by Paul Matthews and Josh Maddock.
There were no further goals in the opening session of play however Sheffield equalised under 3 minutes into the 2nd period when Will Barron neatly finished for the visitors. Shortly afterwards Warriors went on another powerplay when Sheffield’s Ross Jordan was sent to the box for cross checking and Whitley’s specialist team struck again as young winger Ben Richards grabbed his 2nd goal of the season to fire the home side back into the lead.
The 2nd period was proving to be an end to end affair as both sides were creating numerous offensive opportunities and Spartans grabbed their 2nd goal of the game with 34 minutes played when Elliott Knell was able to shoot the puck past Warriors in form goaltender Richie Lawson. Once again Whitley quickly re-established their lead though when a powerful Dean Holland slap shot from just inside the blue line flew into the back of the net, Jamie Tinsley and Paul Matthews were credited with the assists.
Sheffield were not behind for long at all though as Stuart Brittle tied the scores up before the end of the middle stanza of action when he found the back of the net from an extremely tight angle to the delight of the away bench and their supporters.
Both sides went into the last 20 minutes of action with everything to play for with the scores tied at 3 all. However three minutes into the 3rd period Spartans took the lead for the first time in the game when Captain Ollie Barron bundled the puck home for the visitors.
After 46 minutes of play Warriors skipper Jamie Tinsley and Spartans hot shot Stuart Brittle came to blows after a skirmish next to the boards. Both players received 4 minutes in penalties from Referee Tony Boynton for roughing. Following the fracas Warriors Dan Harris was given a 10 minute penalty for misconduct and then a further 10 minute penalty for abuse of an official which saw the talented d man ruled out of the remainder of the match. Whitley ran into further penalty trouble late on as Alex Lawson and Josh Maddock were penalised for cross checking and slashing respectively which limited Warriors offensive opportunities a little.
Warriors put the Spartans goal under a great deal of pressure during the final minutes of the match up. Whitley Coach Simon Leach opted to pull goalie Richie Lawson late on to enable his side to ice an extra skater and then called a time out to outline his sides tactics however Sheffield goaltender Brandon Stones was able to turn away all the shots that came his way which saw Spartans claim their first victory against Warriors on Tyneside for a number of years.
Warriors Points
Dean Holland, Callum Watson and Ben Richards 1+0, Paul Matthews 0+2, Josh Maddock, Harry Harley, Jamie Tinsley and Richie Lawson 0+1
Shots on Goal
On Whitley (Richie Lawson) – 33
On Sheffield (Brandon Stones) – 47
Penalty Minutes
Whitley – 38
Sheffield – 24
Whitley skipper Jamie Tinsley was chosen as Warriors top performer against the Spartans for his all action display while Sheffield’s Nick Manning was selected as the visitors Man of the Match.
Warriors are back in action on Sunday night (19th October) for a home NIHL North league game when the Manchester Minotaurs travel across to the north east from their Altrincham base to face Whitley in a game that faces off at 5pm.
Chris Mackenzie