Lee Valley Lions 4

Romford Fury 4

LEE VALLEY continued their recent upsurge in form as they drew 4-4 with Romford Raiders, a side who had beaten them 9-1 earlier in November.

After the humiliation of their last meeting, Saturday’s home leg was one game that the team and loyal fans were desperate to win.

After watching from the bench for the past few games, George Alley finally got a stint between the pipes and it wasn’t long before Romford were causing him problems.

Alley frantically pushed back several stabs before a final one from Sean Martin got through, giving the visitors their first goal. Their second came courtesy of Robin Turner, before Gary Dodds pulled one back for the Lions, his goal assisted by Joe Berry and Graham Lewis at 16 minutes, 28 seconds.

With a single goal separating the two teams, Lee Valley needed to find the edge over their rivals in the second period, but instead Romford increased their lead.

Although Gary Dodds scored a second goal for the home side, ex-Lion David Dunnage did the damage against his former team, scoring twice before the end of the 20 minutes to leave Lions trailing 4-2.

This being a derby game, it was not without its fractious moments and the second period was marred by a bevy of penalties, Lions’ Kwabina Oppong-Addai receiving a match ban and Romford being handed two 10-minute misconduct penalties.

There was still everything to play for in the final period and Lee Valley had no intention of giving up.

They piled on the pressure against Alan Blyth in the Romford net and were successful, goals from Blair Dubyk and Calum Heath levelling the score at 4-4 by 50.41.

Lions’ players and fans alike were jubilant when the puck hit the back of the net for a fifth time at 58.28 but their triumph was short-lived as seconds later the referee decided the goal would not stand. Both teams held firm in a tense last minute and the final score was 4-4.

This Saturday finds the Lee Valley Lions entertaining Cardiff ENIHL Devils, face-off 5.15pm.