Whitley Warriors make the short trip to Teesside this weekend to take on their NIHL North Moralee Conference rivals the Billingham Stars.
Whitley were in action twice last weekend taking on the in form Blackburn Hawks and the league leaders the Solway Sharks. Warriors lost out 5-0 away from home against Blackburn on Saturday evening before Simon Leach’s side came from behind to secure a superb home draw (2-2) against the Solway Sharks on Sunday night on North Tyneside.
Billingham also faced the same 2 opponents last weekend however the Stars were not able to pick up a positive result as they went down to a 5-1 defeat in Scotland against the Sharks before being trounced 9-1 on home ice against the free scoring Hawks.
Warriors have faced Stars on two occasions so far this season, Whitley claimed a 3-2 victory on home ice back in mid September however Simon Leach’s side then lost out against Billingham in November when Stars came back from 3-1 down to claim a 4-3 victory with the game winning goal coming with only seconds left on the clock.
Warriors top goalscorer and alternate captain Adam Reynolds shared his thoughts on this coming weekend’s match up with the Stars.
“Everyone is looking forward to the derby this weekend. They are always great games played with plenty of passion and fight.
“We will be looking for a big away win to keep ourselves in the play off race. We’ve had a good week of practice and are well prepared well for the game.
“We have been playing really well lately just not quite getting the right results. Hopefully we can kick start that this Sunday and there is no better way to do it than beating your local rivals in their own barn.”
Whitley’s skipper DJ Good also spoke about the Whitley versus Billingham match up.
“It’s a massive game as it’s a derby match between two clubs who are close in the league and both sides will want the win.
“It’s always hard to call a derby game but we have trained well all week and are really up for the game.”
Following the Billingham game this weekend, Whitley’s next game is on Sunday 19th January (5pm face off) when Warriors host the Sheffield Spartans at Hillheads on Tyneside.