Cardiff Junior Devils 3 - 7 Chelmsford

Cardiff came into this match after a fantastic win against league leaders Bracknell the week before. But preparations for this game had been hampered, with a sickness bug going around the team. Tom Parkinson missed the game sick, and both Jack Randall and Joe Morris both dressed despite being well below 100%. Chelmsford themselves had their own problems, with only 9 out players actually making it to the Cardiff rink for the game, and so it lined up to be an interesting game.

The first period was an even affair but with Chelmsford coming out the gate stronger. They got Cardiff on the back foot and soon took the lead, shocking the home team. Even so Cardiff pushed on and slowly got back into the match. Half way through the 1st period Kieran Latchford opened Cardiff's account and tied the game up. Cardiff though were finding themselves in penalty trouble with a string of poor penalties, and it was whilst shorthanded that the visitors took the lead again, making the most of th extra man. Cardiff again pushed on looking for that goal to tie things up, and it was in the final minute that Mat Thomas pounced on a loose puck in front of goal to finish neatly and send the teams in tied 2-2.

The second period was all one way traffic, but unfortunately it was all in Chelmsford favour! Cardiff seemed to take the foot off the gas, maybe thinking that now back at 2-2, they would now push on and win easily. But it was the visitors 9 skaters that did all the hard work and really shock Cardiff by winning the second period 2-0, and again getting another powerplay marker, as the referee punished Cardiff. End of second period the Devils trailed 4-2.

The third period continued where the second left off, with Cardiff a man short, and another power-play goal to make the score 5-2, and Cardiff looking shocked. As Cardiff did wake up, they began to push forward and get some pressure, but once again troubled themselves with more poor penalties, and ended up falling 7-2 behind with again more power-play markers for the visitors. The Devils did finish strongly though, trying to recover some pride from the match, and Ellis Price registered the home teams third marker after a nice feed from Kieran Latchford. Final Score 7-3 to the visitors, and a real wake up call to Cardiff after a strong start to the season.

Game Stats

Goal Scorers:	Assisted by:
Matthew Thomas 1+0 Kieran Latchford 1+0 Ellis Price 1+0

Shots on Goal:	Man of the Match:	Spirit of the Game:
Cardiff (James Whiting) - 25 Chelmsford - 19	Kieran Latchford	Jack Rees