Jets force their way back against the Metros
Kingston Jets 4 - 4 Trafford Metros
After a 10 - 1 win in the previous visit to Hull, together with the poor season that Kingston are having, the Metros went across the Pennines hoping for a win to settle themselves back into winning ways. It was not to be. The Metros dominated the first period and looked to be on their way to cruising to another comfortable victory in Hull. Leading 3 -1 into the third, basement club Kingston were allowed to claw their way back to tie the game.
Continuing injuries and prior appointments meant that Trafford was missing a complete line and made the trip with just twelve skaters. The first period started brightly for the Metros, dominating possession and stifling the Jets sporadic attacks. The seventh minute saw Tom King open the scoring, assisted by Sean Day. After a further minute had elapsed, on the Metros' first power-play, Jake Nurse netted from Andy McKinney and Metros' Man of the Match Max Drakeley. Less than eight minutes played and the visitors ahead by two, the writing seemed on the wall for another runaway victory. The Metros continued to dominate possession and suppress any home team attacking aspirations. Outshooting the Jets by 21 to 7 including several near misses seemed to indicate that goals would be there for the taking in the remainder of the game.
The second period though was something of a wake-up call for the Metros not to take things lightly. Kingston pushed forward and got their reward inside four minutes courtesy of a power-play goal scored by Matty Jeffcock with assists to Dan Sayer and Ben Lowe. A surprised Trafford squad took until nearly the end of the period to restore their lead when Jamie Rogerson scored from his own rebounded shot just over a minute before the second break.
Whilst the Metros dominated the shooting in the third period (15:5), Tristan Rogers in the Kingston net produced a series of superb saves to deny the Trafford team, allowing his own outfit to take the period 3-1 to tie the match. Kingston came back to 3-2 after only 38 seconds (Milhench from Jeffcock and Sayer) pulling level at 46.43 (Hackford from Jeffcock and Cobley). Nine minutes later Trafford went ahead once more, scoring through Max Drakeley from Danny Berry's feed. That lead lasted just 39 seconds as a determined Jets team burst forward taking advantage of the classic vulnerability of a team that has gone ahead in a tight game to tie the score on the second of the game for Milhench, with assists to from Beach and Foreman.
A Trafford spokesperson said, "This was a game we had to win. We seemed comfortable and dominated large periods of play. After we failed to take advantage of the first period dominance the Jets grew in confidence as the game progressed. Several chances were a couple of inches the wrong side of us coming in at the first buzzer five goals to the good. The Jets' keeper (Tristan Rogers) had an outstanding game and kept his side alive the more the game went on. We've got to work on maintaining our momentum for the full sixty minutes. I know that we are missing several senior players, but they are unlikely to be back this season, that can't be taken as a reason."
Game Stats:
(Played Sunday 31st Jan)
Metros Man of the Match: Max Drakeley
Shots on Goal (shots on Metros first): 23 - 46
Penalty minutes: Metros 28 Jets 20.
Metros' stats: Max Drakeley 1+1, Tom King 1+0, Jake Nurse 1+0, Jamie Rogerson 1+0, Danny Berry 0+1, Sean Day 0+1, Andy McKinney 0+1.
Nets: Tom MacDonald (60 mins) 23/4 (82.61%)
