Jets show full power

05 February 2010

A FULL-STRENGTH Romford Raiders have struggled to compete on level terms with title-chasing Slough this season.

So it was little surprise to see a visiting side reduced to just 11 skaters - and two teenage goalies - swept convincingly aside in a 12-1 defeat.

Beaten 8-2 and 8-1 on their two previous visits, Raiders, with Dallas Costanzo serving the first of a three-game suspension and Jon Sitko still injured, were forced to play Jason Buckman in defence after David Oliver's decision to quit, just two games into his Romford comeback.

And they found themselves behind inside two minutes as Peter Jasik cut in from the left wing to slip the puck past his former Jets teammate Charlie Kaylor.

Blaz Emersic blasted a first-time shot home from the low slot for Slough's second and Dan Davies squeezed another close-range effort home on the backhand to make it 3-0 in the 13th minute.

Raiders hit back when Darius Pliskauskas pounced on a loose puck and whistled a shot into the roof of Gregg Rockman's net.

But the visitors were denied a second goal as Frankie Harvey poked home another loose puck, as unsighted referee Dave Goodwin blew his whistle.

Romford made a good start to the second period and good work from Lithuanian Pliskauskas set up chances for Steve Paris and Danny Marshall, who were both denied by Rockman pad saves.

Kaylor denied Jasik in close at the other end, but was beaten by him for a second time after Raiders failed to clear their zone.

Pliskauskas had another shot saved before Slough countered quickly, with Joe Greener beating the desperate dive of Buckman at the red line and sending Ryan Watt in to finish well.

Jasik completed his hat-trick when beating an unsighted Kaylor, who had turned aside 16 shots in a busy period, and scored again with a backhand finish into the roof of the net soon after the restart.

Watt converted at the far post to make it 8-1 before Jets replaced Rockman with Joe Myers, who had joined Slough after asking to be released by Romford.

Myers was called upon to make just five saves in the 15 minutes that remained as Slough

continued to pour forward and find gaps in Raiders defence.

Slava Koulikov's pass in from the left boards found an unmarked Michael Bowman to slide in a ninth, before Paddy Ward picked up the only penalty of the game.

But Jan Melichar's pass sent Ciaran Long clear to fire a shorthanded goal into the top corner just seven seconds later to make it 10-1.

Still there was no let-up from the home side and the mercurial Emersic found the tiniest of gaps in Kaylor's defences to claim an 11th, before Koulikov skated out from behind the Raiders net to make it a round dozen with a strong wristshot.

SCORERS

Jets: Peter Jasik* 4+1 Ryan Watt 2+1 Blaz Emersic* 2 Dan Davies 1+2 Slava Koulikov 1+1 Michael Bowman 1 Ciaran Long 1 Joe Greener 0+5 Jan Melichar* 0+3 Peter Poljacek* 0+1 Paddy Ward 0+1 Andy Munroe 0+1.

Raiders: Darius Pliskauskas* 1 Danny Marshall 0+1 Tyrone Miller 0+1.