Raiders ‘really coming together’

Jacob Ranson goes on the attack for London Raiders at Bracknell (pic: John Scott) (Image: Archant)

Things are looking brighter as I think we were very unlucky last weekend.

I feel we dominated for the majority of both of the games and before the Bracknell fixture most fans and players would have taken that point, but it actually felt like a loss.

Liam Chong was on target for London Raiders at Bracknell and Oxford last weekend (pic: John Scott) (Image: Archant)

We were 3-0 up and looking very good, but all it took was a five-minute blip on our part for them to tie it up, so we must play the full 60 minutes.

There is a lot that could be said about Sunday’s game, but I’ll keep it fairly short.

I think we played a good game, we got 56 shots off which shows we dominated the game.

Unfortunately, we had odd silly mistakes or little lapses where they broke against the play and were very clinical in doing so, finishing the majority of their chances.

As for the ending of the game I won’t say much, but Chongy is a key figure for our team so when he goes down hurt of course we’re going to defend him.

After last weekend’s displays I think the team is really coming together and will start causing some upsets.

Lacky is a massive signing for the team as he is very experienced for his age and is a real strong, hard-working player who will play a massive part for the rest of our season.

The signings we have made over the last month have been a massive step forward for us and there could be another real soon for us to really start pushing forward.

For me personally last weekend I stepped on the ice at Bracknell having been away all week and thought ‘Oh God, I feel a bit rusty’ but thankfully I felt fine as soon as the puck was dropped.

This week has been back to normal, with no Christmas break or holiday so I was back at training and I think we are clicking a lot better across the team in our lines now.

Training was particularly interesting as at the end of the session there was a ‘Rookie Race’ where the losers had to collect the pucks. Thankfully I’m not considered a rookie this time round with the Raiders!

The coming weekend will be a tough one as I think Streatham are one of the better teams in the league so far this season.

They play some nice hockey, especially on their big ice pad at home, and they have a lot of firepower up front across their lines, especially their top line of Klima, Best and Fisher, which seems to be racking up the points so we must limit them as much as possible.

Also the firepower doesn’t stop there as Scarborough is a speedy import, plus they have plenty of other players like former Raider Joe Allen.

It’s the return of Klima to Lee Valley as well, but hopefully we can shut him down well and not let him run riot.

Streatham have also made a great addition at the back to strengthen their side with the signing of goalie Adam Marashi.

But I honestly think with the new addition of Jakub Kostelansky – who broke the plexi in training! – to our line-up we have a great chance of being the underdogs and coming out of this weekend with something.