 Romford's victory left new coach Jesse Hammill smiling |
Bracknell Bees endured a weekend of dismal form as they suffered defeats by lowly Romford Raiders and title challengers Peterborough Phantoms. Romford, under new coach Jesse Hammill, embarrassed the Bees in Bracknell on Saturday, coasting to a 6-3 victory. Peterborough amassed a 6-1 first period lead over the visiting Bees on Sunday, eventually finishing 7-3 winners. Bracknell's local rivals Slough also struggled, losing 7-6 and 4-2 in their two matches against Milton Keynes. The pressure is slowly mounting on Bracknell player-coach Adam Bicknell, particularly following Saturday's capitulation at home to bottom team Romford. The Raiders, revitalised by the appointment of Hammill to replace Warren Rost on Tuesday, took a freak early lead when Bees goaltender Tom Annetts spooned a clearance directly to Andrej Sporina, who finished into an empty net. Danny Marshall doubled the away side's advantage on the power play, but when Peter Jasik stole in for his 24th goal of the season to open the scoring for Bracknell, it looked as though the home team would begin to assert some authority on the ice.  | PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE (12 January) 1 Guildford 46 pts
2 Peterborough 44
3 Slough 39
4 Milton Keynes 39
5 Bracknell 34
6 Sheffield 32
7 Telford 31
8 Swindon 30
9 Romford 22
10 Wightlink 21 |
However, a long-range power play strike from Jan Krajicek restored Romford's two-goal advantage early in the second period, and the Bees were then stunned by two goals in 20 seconds towards the end of the period. Sporina's clinical finish into the top left-hand corner of the net made it four, and moments later he tidied up a rebound with the goal once again unguarded to seal his hat-trick. Matt Foord and Jasik scored in the third period as the Bees tried to recover, but an empty-net strike from Marshall with 17 seconds remaining reinforced Romford's supremacy on the night. Bracknell fans expressed fears for Sunday's game at Peterborough on the back of that defeat, and their worst nightmares were realised inside the first period as the Phantoms ghosted to a five-goal lead. Peterborough held a 7-1 lead at one point in the second period, before the Bees eventually clawed back two goals. The defeats leave Bracknell marooned in the middle of ice hockey's Premier League table, five points behind fourth-placed Milton Keynes, who have four games in hand.
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