Return Leg v Swindon

Sunday night saw the return leg against Swindon at sunny Streatham. The game started off with another tense and cagey first 2 periods, the Statesmen had 3 lines and couldnt really get off to the start we had on the Friday night. the scoring was opened by James (1st of 4 for the night) and a powerplay goal to boot (1 of 2 which is highly unusual) after 10 mins, only for the Knights to score a minute later with Robin Littlewoods 1st of a natural hat trick which wrapped up the scoring for the 1st period.
The second started off much the same with the Knights scoring after 4 mins only for the Statesmen to get 1 back a minute later, then the Knights scored again after a couple of mins only for the Statesmen to score the second PP goal scored by Ty a couple of mins later, that wrapped up the 2nd period with the scores tied at 3-3.
Like last Friday the Statesmen started the 3rd a lot livelier and a goal from Lukas after 7 mins, only for the Knights to even it up again a couple of mins later. Then the Statesmen seemed to pick it up and scored 3 goals in 1min 10 secs of the 3rd to take a commanding lead and with a late goal from James and 1 in the last minute from the Knights Geoff Collins that wrapped up the game and see the Statesmen win 8-5.
MOTM Paddy (Blimey!)

Milestones

Congratulations to Nigel for surpassing 50 points in the game against Swindon.

Friday Night at Swindon

Friday night saw the Statesmen travel to our old friends and adversaries the Nationwide Knights, with confidence at a high after the last couple of games we were looking for something not done in a long while at Swindon, which was a win.
The game started off at a nice tempo but first blood went to the Knights at 4 mins of the 1st, in a cagey first period this wasn't tied up until the 12th min by Lukas, 2 mins later the Statesmen struck again with a goal from Mark Fenwick (congrats on his 1st for the club) and this rounded out the first period scoring.
The 2nd was a completely different matter with Ty scoring in 30 secs of the restart and the first of four for the night off a nice feed from Lukas (I like). This started off a scoring spree with 4 unanswered goals 1 from James (hat trick on the night), 2 from Ty and 1 from Isaac, this is where the game got interesting and with the Statesmen 7-1 up the Knights started their comeback with a goal with 30 secs to go in the 2nd.
Starting off the 3rd the Statesmen were 7-2 up and with a natural hat trick from the Knights Shaun Littlewood the game started to get interesting and the Statesmen were flustered, then the Knights scored their 6th goal and a time out was needed. This seemed to get our heads back into it and a goal from Ty off a feed from the corner from James straight after the time out steadied the ship and got us back into it, another 2 goals with only 1 reply from the Knights and a final goal from James late on, on a spectacular solo effort saw the Statesmen come out 11-7 winners in the most exciting 3rd period played in a long while. Looking forward to the rematch on Sunday.
MOTM Lukas (this is getting boring now)

Game v Legion 21st Nov

With the Statesmen buoyed by the come from behind draw against Invicta went into the Legion game full of confidence and it payed off. For the first time in a long time we played all 3 periods at the same pace and didnt let off for a minute for a resounding 8-1 victory.
The Statesmen in full control and never looked like losing , only a bit of handbags with the tour de farce of the legion team did it look like getting out of control, a conselation late on for the legion halted the hopes of the shutout, didnt really matter as the game was won. Well done to all involved.
MOTM (cant remember but I bet it was Lukas).