Whitley Warriors lost out on Saturday evening when they travelled to the Scottish borders to take on the Solway Sharks. Warriors travelled north with a strong looking squad though the likes of Dan Pye, Ben Richards and Joe Stamp were not part of David Longstaff’s roster against the table topping Solway Sharks.
After 20 minutes of action Warriors were 3-1 down with Callum Watson grabbing Whitley’s goal after 16 minutes with David Longstaff and Craig Johnson picking up the assists. The middle session of play saw DJ Good net an unassisted powerplay marker for Whitley after 26 minutes, Warriors went onto level the game up 8 minutes later when Harry Harley beat Kieran Hobbins in the Sharks goal after Liam Smedley had fed the puck to the in form Whitley #24.
The final period of play saw Solway net 3 unanswered goals as the home side took the contest by 6 goals to3. Warriors Jordan Barnes was in the thick of the action late on though as he dropped the gloves with Sharks Ross Murray on 2 occasions which saw both players sent to the sin bin by the referees on duty.
Richie Lawson was selected as Warriors Man of the match for a solid display in goal for Warriors while import d man Kim Miettinen was selected as Solway’s best player over the 60 minutes of action.
Warriors are in action on home ice on Sunday evening (face off 5pm) when the Blackburn Hawks visit Hillheads in a league match up. It would be great to see as many supporters as possible cheering Whitley on in what should be a captivating game of hockey between 2 of the top sides the NIHL North set up has to offer.