Additional Comments:

The Lions were at nearly full strength, missing only Michael Jacobs in this, the second of the important pre-Christmas games.

The match nearly started in spectacular style, as in the first minute a wayward pass was heading into the Slough zone, the goalie came out almost to the blue line to clear but Scott Beeson beat him to the puck. Instead of shooting he tried to skate wide to set up a team mate and the opportunity disappeared. Soon after Beeson had another shot which was saved and so was the rebound, but at 07:49 Gennadi Yufit was clear and passed to Ashley Curtin, who stabbed the puck through the Slough goalie’s five hole.

Lee Valley then had two goals disallowed as the first was judged to have been kicked in by Scott Beeson and another crossed the line after the whistle had gone. The Lions did not let these disappointments affect them as with two minutes left in the period, Ashley Curtin bagged his second of the night with a low shot.

The second period was one of the best we have seen from the Lions this season, although the score did not reflect the effort as there was only one goal scored. The powerplay unit worked superbly and Lee Valley would have had a few more goals if it wasn’t for Slough netminder, William Sanderson, who stood on his head during the sustained pressure. Joe Berry found the net in the 27th minute of the game as he forced the puck under the goalie after his initial shot was saved. Ashley Curtin was robbed of a hat-trick with another terrific save as Gennadi Yufit fed him from behind the goal, the goalie making a wonderful glove save.

The Lions continued to dominate in the final session and, after Scott Beeson hit home at 44:42, they proved the point with two short-handed goals. Luke Kirkland got his first goal in a Lee Valley jersey, as he broke clear with tremendous speed and beat the goalie glove-side. One minute later James Hatfull came from behind the net and slotted home with a classic wrap-around goal. Luke Kirkland had another break-away opportunity, but was brought down when close to goal.

At this point the Lions lost a bit of concentration and allowed Slough some space which had previously been denied to them. This resulted in two goals: Andrew Boot in the Lions’ net looked to have the first one covered but the puck somehow got under him, the second was just a bad bounce that eluded him when there was a scramble around his net.

The final score was 6–2 in the favour of Lee Valley, but fans who travelled knew the margin could have been far greater, were it not for the abilities of Slough’s netminder and some unlucky bounces denying the Lions more goals. Four points from two games is well on the way to achieving the pre-Christmas total coach Sergei Smolenko was aiming for, but next weekend at Invicta, the team will have to maintain their concentration for that extra time which they let slip on this occasion.

Referee was Thompson and Linesmen were Boot and Marshall.