Oliver praises Raiders reshuffle

London Raiders forward Jakub Kostelansky attacks on the Isle of Wight (pic: John Scott) (Image: Archant)

London Raiders defenceman David Oliver paid tribute to his team-mates and coach Alan Blyth following their fine win at the Isle of Wight.

The visitors arrived in Ryde with a short bench, but two goals apiece from Alan Lack and Jacob Ranson helped them to a 6-3 success, with Stephen Deacon and Vaclav Drabek also on target.

And Oliver felt some subtle changes to the side helped enormously, saying: “Saturday was the best we have played this season, I said last week that Isle of Wight is one of the best rinks to play out of, and this game showed why.

“We had two lines and Blyth changed things by putting Liam Chong in defence and Drabek as a forward. Hats off to Blyth for that move and everyone stepped up with Lacky and Jack Cooper both dropping the gloves.

London Raiders forward Liam Chong prepares for a face-off at the Isle of Wight (pic: Danny Oxley) (Image: Archant)

“‘Disco’ (Chris Douglas) was a rock in net as well.”

Victory kept Raiders in the eighth and final play-off place in the National League, five points behind Solent with a game in hand.

Raiders now have a blank weekend before returning to action at Invicta on March 8 and Oliver says they need to remain focused on the task in front of them.

And he also thanked the supporters who made the long trip off the mainland to cheer them to victory last weekend.

London Raiders fans cheered their side to victory at the Isle of Wight (pic: John Scott) (Image: Archant)

He added: “We can’t live off that win. We have a weekend off then back to it next week and we have to bring that to every game left and

make a platform to the play-offs.

“I’d like to thank every Raiders fan who made the long trip to the island. The rink was buzzing all game and it was like a extra player!

“And we were missing a few players like Grant Taylor, Tom Davis, Stevie Dunnage, Matt France and Ross Wilkinson.”