Weekend Roundup: Match Week 26

BILLINGHAM STARS could not shake off the disappointment of their Moralee Cup final debacle as they struggled to convert their chances against a determined Deeside Dragons outfit, ultimately falling to only their second home defeat of the season.

A lengthy injury list not helping the Stars’ cause and several players carrying knocks, it did nonetheless look promising in the early stages of the game, Chris Sykes converting short-handed out front in the eighth minute after some hard graft from Tommy Spraggon to set him up with Patriks Grigors sitting out a delay the game call. The lead was doubled in the 14th minute, Sykes again going in off the post from the face off. The wobble started in the 18th minute, Alex Parry left all alone to pick his spot and bring the visitors back within one at the break.

Sykes’ hat trick marker in the 25th minute should have set the Stars on their way but just a minute later the defence lost sight of the puck deep in their own zone and Matthew Wainwright was on hand to follow up. It got better for the visitors two minutes later as they notched two goals in 32 seconds to move ahead, the second with a touch of controversy about it as Billingham looked in vain for a netminder interference call. Still battling hard, the home side eventually hauled themselves back on level terms in the 36th minute when Rolands Gritāns converted an Andy Finn shot at the back stick.

With echoes of the previous League game against Solihull, the game changer came in the 47th minute when a clear offside was missed and the puck stayed in the zone for Petr Valusiak to eventually rifle home. Perhaps capitalising on the Stars dejection, Deeside were able to move further ahead a minute later when Ross Kennedy tapped home following a scramble in front of Thomas Brown’s net. Billingham threw everything at their opponents in the closing minutes, perhaps guilty of being too wasteful in front of the net, but they could not get anything past a resolute Dragons defence and eventually succumbed to a final minute empty net goal, Wainwright with his second of the game to make the final score 4-7.

Man-of-the-Match for the Stars was Tommy Spraggon.

Stars Stats:

Chris Sykes 3+1; Rolands Gritāns 1+0; Andy Finn 0+1; Tommy Spraggon 0+1; Michael Elder 0+1

SOG: Thomas Brown 33 (10 / 14 / 9)

Dragons Stats:

Matthew Wainwright 2+2; Ross Kennedy 2+1; Jakub Hájek 1+1; Petr Valusiak 1+1; Alex Parry 1+0; Cade King 0+2; Brodie Jesson 0+2; James Parsons 0+1; Dalton Thompson 0+1; Louis Morgan 0+1

SOG: Matt Croyle 43 (11 / 18 / 14)