Cardiff Junior Devils 1-1 Romford Raiders

Saturday saw the Cardiff U14 Devils play host to Romford in a Division One South clash. Romford were last years runners up in the league, and Cardiff were expecting a tough match up.

The game started at a fast pace with Cardiff coming out the gate quicker and getting some good early pressure, forcing the Romford keeper into action straight away, with some good saves. And it was Cardiff who looked to have opened the scoring early, when Tom Parkinson found space in front of net to control the puck, and got away a strong shot that beat the away net-minder only to hit the under side of the bar and hit the ice in front of the line, before bouncing away. Both teams had power play opportunities in the first period, and Cardiff again couldn't find the net, although getting shots on goal. But it was whilst Cardiff had a player in the penalty box themselves, that they finally managed to break the deadlock, with Matthew Thomas finishing neatly on a breakaway, after some hard work from Myles Chapman to feed him the puck, and Cardiff took this lead into the first break.

The second period started again with a quick pace, and with both teams having plenty of depth, this looked sure to continue. This time it was Romford who began to get some early pressure, and the Devils defence pairing of Luke Southwood and Jack Randall having to work hard backed up with a couple of fine saves from James Whiting in net. And It was with another Cardiff player in the penalty box, that the next goal came, but this time, it was Romford who found the scoreboard, capitalising when Cardiff failed to clear their end under pressure, and beating Whiting in net with a strong shot to tie the game up. The Devils had to weather another brief spell of pressure, with this time the defence pairing of Callum Buglass and Jack Rees standing strong and protecting the home net with some good defence work to ensure the home team finished the period tied 1-1.

The third period saw the Devils take a grip of the game, and really enforce themselves on the visitors firing plenty of shots on net, but again finding the Romford keeper standing strong to the pressure. Even with the Devils on the power-play again, the home team found themselves frustrated over and over, as several rebounds just bounced the wrong side of the net or out of reach, but the Devils continued to press forward hungry for the win. With two and half minutes remaining, forward Tom Parkinson was brought down and injured, and with the away player ejected from the game, giving the Devils one last power-play to take all the points. But even with four forwards and one Defenseman playing the power-play, they managed shot after shot, but with no goal. The night was summed up, when Captain Kieran Latchford broke in on net with a minute remaining, to see his shot hit the keeper and post before bouncing along the goal line, and away to safety. The game finished 1-1 with Devils having outshot the Romford team 31-15. Both teams had played a hard fought match.

Game Stats

Goal Scorers:

Matthew Thomas 1+0 Myles Chapman 0+1

Shots on Goal:	Man of the Match:	Spirit of the Game:
Cardiff Devils: 31 Romford: 15	CALLUM BUGLASS	LUKE SOUTHWARD