Metros vs Nottingham double-header
Illnesses meant that a severely short-benched Metros outfit took on one of the league's form sides in another double-header weekend. Despite the limitations of having barely two lines, the Metros performed very creditably over the weekend.
Saturday 3rd October
Trafford Metros 3 - 5 Nottingham Lions
Saturday saw the return of the ENL side's Achilles Heel: the gifting the first period to the opposition. By 7.03 of the first period the Lions had netted three times without reply, forcing Metros' coach, Paul Bayliss, to withdraw Tom MacDonald in favour of Kris Beaumont. This proved to be the wake-up call that the Metros needed: it would be the third period before the Lions found the Trafford net again.
Jamie Rogerson, from Tom King and Sean Day, further restored the Metros confidence at 24.48 and the game began to take on a different feel. Early in the third period Nottingham added two more goals which could have caused the Metros' heads to go down, but they are made of sterner stuff and battled back hard finding their reward in Rogerson's second at 54.55, on a power-play, assisted by Jake Nurse. This was quickly followed by Nurse netting at 59.38, from John Murray. The final score didn't fully represent the effort and determination displayed by the home team.
The first interval was marked by enthusiastic guests from The Children's Adventure Farm Trust accepting cheques amounting to £1503: from Paula Murray of the Metros and Paul Bayliss, on behalf of the Dept of Work & Pensions Sports Club. £1053 came from the Metros two charity game during the off-season, and £450 from members of the DWP. This group, with equal enthusiasm, presented the Man of the Match beer at the end of the game.
Metros Man of the Match: Kris Beaumont
Shots on Goal (shots on Metros first): 32-31 Penalty minutes: Metros 46 Lions 24.
Metros' stats: Jamie Rogerson 2+0, Jake Nurse 1+1, Sean Day 0+1, Tom King 0+1, John Murray 0+1.
Nets: Tom MacDonald (7.03 mins): 8/3: 62.50%; Kris Beaumont (52.57 mins): 24/2 91.67%
Sunday 4th Octocber
Nottingham Lions 7 - 3 Trafford Metros
An equally small group left for Nottingham on Sunday. After Saturday's efforts, there was an air of quiet confidence that they could surprise the Lions in their own den. Nottingham opened their account, on the power-play after an call against the Metros' bench, at 6.17. Andy McKinney restored level pegging at 10.33 with a copy-book goal from the left circle after great work from John Murray and Jake Nurse. With a disheartening ten seconds left in the period the Lions scored a second power-play marker.
Less than two minutes into the second period and Max Drakeley burst down the ice to pass to an unmarked Tom King who made no mistake. Equality had been restored. The Lions inched their noses ahead again at 24.11 to complete the second period scoring. A remarkable incident at 28.08 saw the dismissal of Nottingham's Thomas Parker. An illegal equipment call (visor) provoked a verbal exchange which earned Parker 85 penalty minutes: Surely some kind of record for such a relatively minor infringement.
Period three was marked by the Metros taking a series of minor penalties which were, surely, evidence of the hardest weekend undertaken by most of the Metros players. The Lions managed to rattle in four more goals before Trafford managed a reply: Jake Nurse shooting home from an Andy McKinney pass. Frustration finally got the better of Max Drakeley who was dismissed from the ice at 59.21 with 50 penalty minutes to call his own: Roughing and resisting an official.
At the final buzzer it could appear that the Metros' early confidence had been ill-founded. Taking the game as a whole this was not true; the game went nip and tuck until the third period when the efforts of two games against strong opposition and a severely limited bench began to take its toll in a series of tired bodies taking minor penalty calls.
A Metros official said, "Saturday was a pity. The score didn't represent the whole game: we lost the first seven minutes and won the next 53. The guys battled hard and showed grit and determination overcoming unusual line formations. Sunday was similar: we contained and matched the Lions until tiredness took hold and they punished us on special teams: They scored short-handed, twice, plus three power-play goals. The weekend emphasises that we cannot afford to gift goals in the top flight. Teams will not give us room to recover from such indiscretions."
Metros Man of the Match: Jon Maw
Shots on Goal (shots on Metros first): 47-20 Penalty minutes: Metros 96 Lions 97
Metros' stats: Andy McKinney 1+1, Jake Nurse 1+1, Tom King 1+0, Sean Day 0+1, Max Drakeley 0+1, John Murray 0+1
Nets: Kris Beaumont: 47/7: 85.12%
