Warriors claim draw in north west

Warriors travelled to the northwest to take on Manchester Minotaurs with an extremely strong squad. Almost all senior players travelled with only Daniel Anderson, Joe Harley and Ryan Sample missing from the Warriors line up. 

Whitley started the game on the back foot and Minotaurs import Lukas Zeman fired the home side into the lead after 3 minutes. Warriors then ran into some penalty trouble as Jordan Barnes and Christian Johnson both picked up 2 minutes for tripping.

Warriors managed to kill off both penalties however Manchester increased their lead on 14 minutes when Zeman netted his 2nd of the game and 9th goal of the season on the delayed whistle. 

Whitley did create a number of openings at the other end of the ice however Paul Maudsley in the Minotaurs net was able to turn all efforts away. Ben Richards and Dan Harris came the closest to lighting the lamp for Warriors. 

The 2nd period got underway with Warriors on the offensive however Minotaurs broke away and Zeman fires home to make it 3-0 to the home side and complete his hattrick. 

Whitley continue to create opportunities though and DJ Good lights the lamp to finish off a superb move which involved both Mark Good and Callum Watson. Warriors then get their 1st powerplay of the night after 28 minutes of play and DJ Good fires home his 2nd of the contest while Whitley have the man advantage. 

Manchester look a little rattled and when Adam Reynolds makes it 3-3 with an unassisted breakaway goal on 32 minutes Minotaurs call a time out. The break in play does Whitley no harm though and Callum Watson fires home at 36.12 to put Warriors into the lead for the first time. Manchester opt to replace their net minder Paul Maudsley with Nicole Jackson. 

Warriors increase their lead shortly into the 3rd when Jordan Barnes nets his first of the season with 47 minutes on the clock. Minotaurs have the opportunity to pull a goal back just 4 minutes later but Hnilica fails to get his penalty shot away. 

Whitley hold a 5-3 lead going into the last 90 seconds of the game however Referee Pering awards Manchester another penalty shot and Zeman finds the back of the net to make it a 1 goal game. 

Following the penalty shot Minotaurs are still on the power play and with around 1 minute left in the contest Manchester pull their net minder so they can have a 6th skater this tactic pays off handsomely when Sean Day fires home. 

Warriors Jamie Tinsley is named Whitley Man of the Match with replacement net minder Nicole Jackson being selected as Manchester’s best player.