Whitley Warriors were in action twice over the course of the weekend as David Longstaff’s side headed across the Pennines on Saturday evening to face the Blackburn Hawks in the cup before a home league game on Sunday against local rivals the Billingham Stars.
Whitley fought hard against Hawks and went down to a narrow 3-2 defeat in what turned out to be a rather physical contest. Niall Simpson and Callum Watson grabbed Warriors goals in the match up, interestingly all 24 penalty minutes in the contest were for fighting as 3 players from each side dropped the gloves during the course of the game.
Whitley were able to ice Import Andre Payette on Sunday evening as he was now free from suspension and able to take his place in the Warriors line up once again. Player/Coach David Longstaff and senior netminder Richie Lawson were also back on the game day roster having sat out of the cup game on Saturday evening.
Warriors took an early penalty when Payette was sent to the sin bin for a slashing mis-demeanour and Stars made the most of the man advantage as Michael Elder fired home on the powerplay. Billingham extended their lead on the 6 minute mark when Callum Davies slotted the puck past Whitley netminder Richie Lawson. At this point in the game Warriors young goaltender Jordan Boyle replaced Lawson in the homes side goal.
Whitley came close to getting on the scoresheet themselves as Callum Watson, Harry Harley and Ben Richards all tested the reflexes of James Flavell in the Billingham net. However it was Stars who netted the games next goal as Callum Davies made it 3-0 after 13 minutes of play with his 2nd goal of the game for the visitors.
The 2nd period of play saw Warriors generate a great deal of offensive play in the Stars defensive zone however visiting goaltender James Flavell was in fine form as he was to thwart all of Whitley’s efforts until the 35th minute of play when David Longstaff lit the lamp after a swift interplay between DJ Good and Callum Watson had split the Billingham defence. Stars almost grabbed a goal in the dying seconds of the 2nd period to restore their 3 goal lead however young Jordan Boyle in the Warriors goal was able to keep the Stars out with a fine stop.
Warriors continued to create attacking openings in the 3rd period a surge forward from the blue line saw Joe Stamp go close for Whitley while Longstaff almost grabbed a goal with a wraparound effort that brought a smart save from Flavell once more. Billingham did have chances of their own on the counter attack though and young goalie Jordan Boyle made a couple of smart saves to keep his side firmly in the contest.
Stars Jack Watkins took a 2 minute penalty for delaying the game late on and Warriors opted to pull their goalie at this point so they could go 6 on 4 powerplay in effect. Whitley laid siege to the Stars goal late on with Harry Harley, Shaun Kippin and DJ Good all going close for the home side however Flavell was equal to everything that came his way and Stars took the contest by 3 goals to 1. Warriors out shot Stars by 66 shots to 21over the 60 minutes of action and it was no surprise that James Flavell was chosen as the visitors Man of the Match for a superb display for his side. Whitley’s Man of the Match went to Ben Richards who looked dangerous on the wing throughout the contest.
Bench Coach Dave Holland shared his views on the game.
“For 55 minutes we were excellent, just the first 5 minutes cost us. We took an early penalty they scored on that powerplay and then quickly scored when we were 5 on 5. We switched goalies and put Jordan Boyle in and he did a great job for us. Our work ethic for the majority of the game was superb it was just those 5 minutes at the start of the contest.
“Flav (James Flavell) had an excellent game for them in goal as he was saving everything, the shots on goal speak volumes on how the balance of play was in the game.
“We got the game back to 3-1 and put them under pressure if we’d been able to get another goal they’d have been really under pressure in the latter stages of the game. We were very offensive and mixed it up as we played 2 and a bit lines to try and get back into the game.”
Whitley are next in action on Sunday evening when league leaders the Solway Sharks come to Tyneside for a NIHL North Division 1 match up that is set to get underway at 5pm.