Streatham Redskins skated to the top of English National Ice Hockey League South One as they continued their great run of form to beat Cardiff Devils 4-2.
In yet another gutsy performance on Saturday, Streatham saw two more goals from star man Callum Best as well as strikes from Louis Lockwood and Brandon Miles.
It didn’t go all Redskins’ way though, with Cardiff fighting back at the end of the end of the first period to level the scores 2-2 through goals from Michael Newbury and Jonathan Nash.
Streatham reasserted their dominance and claimed victory though, despite a impressive performance by Cardiff goalie Luke Takel, who made numerous saves and prevented what could have possible been a much more embarrassing scoreline.
Redskins captain Joe Johnston was happy with his team’s performance and confident of keeping their five-game winning run going.
He said: “We may not have had as many goals as we did last weekend but possession-wise we never looked like we were in trouble.
“With the home support we should be looking at winning most games here, it doesn’t matter who we play. We have made the home rink in to our own little fortress.”
The game was a feisty one, particularly in the first period when Streatham’s Joe Allen dropped the gloves to deal with Cardiff agitator Jordan Powell.
Allen was given a few minutes in the sin bin as he continued to beat his opponent after he had him down on the ice.
Streatham fans were further outraged when no penalty was given as Jack Tarczycki was smashed into the boards and went down with an injury. He was then helped off the ice and was out for the whole game.
Sean Scarborough was back in the Streatham team after rejoining and was impressed watching his team’s performances so far this season.
He said: “These are the kind of games we would have typically lost last year but we have so much more depth now.
“We had a couple of guys go down to injury, suspensions and fights which would have really thrown us last year and, although we might not have everyone 100% yet, we were still able to push on and get the points that we need.”
Feature image of Joe Johnston courtesy of Rick Webb, with thanks
