Cardiff Junior Devils 3 - 5 Basingstoke

Saturday 31st January saw the Cardiff U14's host the Basingstoke Junior Bison in the first meeting of the two sides this season. With Cardiff in second place in the league, just a point ahead of the Bison, it was sure to be an exciting match, and it didn't disappoint.

In a game filled with penalties, it was Basingstoke who looked the better team on the man advantage and although Cardiff killed their first penalty off, the Bison managed to open the scoring on Cardiff's second penalty, scoring a neat wrap around.

Basingstoke really started to dominate the 1st period, and at 11.22 doubled their lead. While Cardiff pushed forward on the man advantage, Basingstoke's Jesse Lye broke away to score his first of two and put the score 2-0 to the away team. The Devils called a 30 second timeout, re-grouped, and looked stronger in the final minutes. It was with 16 seconds left in the opening period, that Cardiff got their first, with Owen Griffiths skating hard to chase a puck, he fed Matthew Thomas who slotted home to halve the lead at the break.

The second period started badly for the home team, as just 16 seconds in, Basingstoke had restored their two goal advantage, with the impressive Jesse Lye again on the score sheet. Cardiff though looked an improved team in the middle period, and started taking the game to Basingstoke, and again brought the difference to one goal when Joe Morris broke from the neutral zone, straight between the two Bison D-men, and coolly beat the keeper on the backhand, for his second of the year.

Basingstoke applied pressure around the Cardiff goal, and after several good saves from James Whiting in net, the pressure paid off, and the Bison had a two goal lead again.

The game was swinging one way and then the other, and it was penalties that had an impact on the score line, as Cardiff were given their second 5 on 3 chance of the game. With the two man advantage Cardiff looked composed, and with Giacamo Raffaelli doing hard work in the corners, Cardiff managed an extended period of pressure, which paid off when Kieran Latchford passed to Ellis Price in the slot who finished with a quick shot, and pulled the Devils to within one goal again, but it was Bison’s Cameron Wynn who got the next goal firing in his second of the match to restore the two goal lead.

The third period was goalless as Basingstoke came out looking far more defensive, as they tried to protect their lead. Cardiff had some good spells of pressure, but couldn't turn it into shots on goal as the Bison defence stood strong. An exciting match and an excellent display of U14 hockey by both teams ended 5-3 to the visitors.

Game Stats

Goal Scorers:	Assisted by:
Matthew Thomas 1+0 Joe Morris1+0 Kieran Latchford 0+1 Ellis Price 1+0 Owen Griffiths 0+1

Shots on Goal:	Man of the Match:	Spirit of the Game:
On Cardiff Goal (James Whiting):27 On Basingstoke goal :16	James Whiting	Ellis Price