Whitley Warriors made the short journey down the A19 on Sunday evening to take on their local rivals the Billingham Stars in a NIHL North Moralee Conference encounter. Warriors had 17 players in their squad for the match up though Whitley were without experienced d man Rob Wilson and youngsters Kyle Hindmarsh-Ross and Callum Queenan.
Whitley started the game with 3 forward lines, 2 defensive pairings with youngsters Callum Read and Ben Richards adding extra options to the Warriors roster. Richie Lawson started the game in goal for Whitley with teenage goaltender Mark Turnbull acting as his back up.
Warriors started the game positively and took the lead after 2 minutes of action when Tommy Ralph found the back of the net with a strike from the blue line. Billingham were creating plenty of their own openings though and the Stars tied the score up when Michael Bowman shot past Richie Lawson in the Warriors net 6 minutes later.
Whitley went on the powerplay midway through the opening period of action when Billingham’s Andy Munroe was sent to the sin bin for high sticking however Warriors were unable to find a way past Stars highly thought of netminder James Flavell during the 2 minutes they had the man advantage. Warriors d man Dan Harris picked up a knock during the opening stages of the contest however he was fortunately able to continue after taking a little time to recover.
Going into the 2nd period Warriors and Stars were level at 1-1 however Billingham lifted their game and thanks to markers from James Moss and Andy Munroe Stars held a 3-1 lead at the 27 minute mark. Just after netting Billingham’s third goal Munroe was given a minor penalty for Interference by Referee Boynton and Whitley made the most of their powerplay opportunity as DJ Good netted after Stars had been unable to clear the puck out of their defensive own zone.
Billingham went onto increase their lead later in the 2nd stanza when Scott Ward scored his 4th goal of the season for Stars on 31 minutes with youngster Jack Emerson and the veteran Paul Windridge picking up the assists on the goal. Warriors were dealt another blow when blue liner Josh Maddock had to leave the ice due to injury which saw Whitley’s defensive resources stretched even further and Warriors had to operate with 3 senior d men and youngster Callum Read for the remainder of the contest.
Warriors started the final period of play 2 goals in arrears however Whitley were presented an early powerplay opportunity in the 3rd period when James Moss was serving 2 minutes for an Illegal Equipment call in the penalty box. Whitley put the Stars goal under a great deal of pressure and Jamie Tinsley struck the post with a strike from distance. Warriors just couldn’t find the back of the net though and as their powerplay ended a slow defensive line change from Whitley saw Billingham launch a swift counter attack which resulted in Callum Davies lighting the lamp to make it 5-2 to the Teessiders.
After 48 minutes of play former Warrior Paul Windridge further increased the Stars lead on the powerplay when he found the back of the net after some nice some interplay between Richie Thornton and Garry Dowd. Shortly after Stars 6th goal of the evening Warriors Jordan Barnes came to blows with Billingham’s Scott Ward when the players clashed in front of the bench’s both players were given 14 minutes in penalties for roughing and therefore left the ice for the remainder of the contest.
There was no further scoring in the match up and Billingham claimed the 2 points on offer which kept the Stars 2nd in the league table, Warriors are currently 5th in the standings 1 place and 4 points from a play off spot. Paul Windridge was chosen as Stars Man of the Match for his 4 (1+3) point haul while Warriors youngster Christian Johnson who logged an awful lot of minutes on the ice in defence was selected as Warriors top player during the match up.
Whitley Points
Tommy Ralph and DJ Good 1+0, Adam Reynolds and Jamie Tinsley 0+1
Billingham Points
Paul Windridge 1+3, Michael Bowman 1+1, James Moss, Andy Munroe, Scott Ward and Callum Davies 1+0, Stephen Wallace, Jack Emerson, Richie Thornton and Garry Dowd 0+1
Penalties
Whitley – 20 minutes
Billingham – 20 minutes
Whitley Coach Simon Leach offered his views on the Warriors Stars game.
“Us getting the opening goal of the game was probably the only positive we can take from tonight. We were outplayed, outworked, outhit and out passed from more or less the start of the game and we didn’t get any momentum out there and we are all really disappointed.
“I don’t have any qualms about the end result I’m just disappointed for the club, the team and the fans who have all come down here in numbers and we’ve let them all down.
Warriors are in action next Sunday evening (face off 5pm) when Whitley take on the Sheffield Spartans on home ice at Hillheads in a NIHL North Moralee Conference encounter. With Warriors and Spartans both battling for a play off spot next weekend’s game promises to be a end to end encounter between 2 sides striding to make it into the post season programme.