Whitley Warriors travelled north across the border to face the Solway Sharks on Saturday evening. The influential Dean Holland was back in the Warriors line up well ahead of schedule after recovering from a serious injury in a pre season challenge game with the Kirkcaldy Kestrels. Warriors were without 2 key blue liners though as both Dan Pye and Andre Payette were ruled out of the game through injury and suspension respectively.
Solway took the lead in the opening period of play through their skipper Struan Tonnar when the Sharks stalwart shot past Richie Lawson after 6 minutes of play. Whitley did generate a number of scoring opportunities during the first stanza however Solway’s netminder Andrew Jaszczyk was able to turn away all of the Warriors efforts.
The middle session of play saw Sharks increase their lead on 24 minutes when Marc Fowley grabbed a goal for the home side. Warriors were creating numerous offensive opportunities though and David Longstaff’s side got a goal back on 33 minutes dead when Joe Stamp fired home after he had been set up nicely by DJ Good. Just 3 minutes later Whitley impressively levelled the game up when winger Callum Watson lit the lamp with a nice finish after some pleasing build up play from David Longstaff and DJ Good.
The contest remained tied until the 47th minute when Sharks import d man Juraj Senko fired home for the Scots. Whitley opted to pull netminder Richie Lawson late on so that an extra outskater could enter the contest however Solway were able to take control of the puck and fire it into Warriors empty net with just over a minute of the contest remaining which saw Sharks edge the game by 4 goals to 2.
Whitley netminder Richie Lawson had an impressive game as he was able to post a save percentage of over 93% during his time out on the ice, Jordan Barnes also had a good game and Warriors committed number 17 was chosen as the visitors Man of the Match for his efforts.
Warriors fans are reminded that Whitley play their local rivals the Billingham Stars on Sunday (25th October) in a game that faces off at 5pm. Tickets are priced at £8.50 for adults and £6.50 for children while a family ticket is also available at £24. This game is the first Tyne Tees derby of the 2015/16 campaign and it promises to be an end to end game of hockey between 2 of the top sides in the NIHL North set up.