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 The Solway Sharks travelled down to Whitley Bay on Sunday night
to take on the Warriors in Northern League action but came home
disappointed as the home side ran out five-nil winners.
The Warriors were on the offensive straight from the opening
face-off and were rewarded for their early endeavours in the
seventh minute. Solway failed to clear their lines to the right
of their goal and Tindale stole possession before feeding Carter
close to goal and he forced the puck below Scott McMeeken to
give the home side the lead. That advantage was almost extended
on the nine minute mark when Sample found himself with an open
goal in a goalmouth scramble but somehow McMeeken came from
nowhere to catch his goal-bound shot. From the face-off,
however, Sample won possession and fed Mark Good whose shot
rattled off the Sharks right-hand pipe back to Daniel Good and
he slotted his shot into the Solway net. As the Sharks
desperately tried to force their way back into the match they
had a spell of good pressure which resulted in Fraser Goldie
sending Struan Tonnar through one-on-one with the Warriors
netminder, but Murdy had his angles covered and saved well to
his right. As Solway continued to press Tindale robbed
possession in his own defensive zone and out-paced the following
Sharks up the right wing before sending a low, hard shot which
beat McMeeken at his left-hand post. An excellent solo effort.
The second period began with the Sharks desperate to find a
life-line and a goalmouth scramble during a Solway powerplay
almost produced the desired result but the puck shaved the wrong
side of the pipes. As the pressure mounted so did the penalty
calls against the home side and the Sharks twice had a five on
three man advantage. However, the second two man advantage
lasted just four seconds as Karl Culley robbed possession and
headed into clear ice with just the keeper to beat and Anthony
Payne had little option but to trip the Warrior and take the
resultant penalty. Despite the pressure the Warriors penalty
kill was excellent and they themselves always looked dangerous
on the counter-attack and Dewar Anderson who had replaced
McMeeken at the first interval had to be alert to cover the
danger several times.
 The final session began with Whitley trying to reassert their
dominance and Dewar Anderson had to be on top form to make a
fine double save from Culley and Tindale before M Good hit the
pipes from wide on the right-hand boards shortly after.
Gradually the Sharks began to pressurise the home defence and
John Downes, John Ballentyne and Kevin Conway all went close
with long-range efforts but still the Warriors defence stood
firm. But this was a far more even period and Whitley had long
periods of pressure themselves and could easily have extended
their lead on several occasions. A moment of humour surfaced
mid-way through the period when the linesman told Allinson to
move further back at a face-off. Being close to the perimeter
already and having no-where else to go the big Whitley man
simply leaned back against the boards in a pose of total
relaxation. But the fun was soon to be over for the Sharks as
Whitley began to look ever more dangerous on the break as the
visitors overstretched themselves in search of a goal. Mark Good
was again to be the provider for the Warriors, he collected a
pass from Dunn wide on the right and drifted forward as he
waited for support. When that arrived in the form of Daniel Good
his square pass was perfectly timed to give the Whitley forward
a simple finish. Whitleys' fifth and final goal came when
Anderson saved low to his right from Dunn and within an instant
Tindale was onto the rebound. He skated behind the net and
scored a fine wrap-around goal before the keeper could get back
to cover.
A measure of the attacking instincts of both teams was that both
netminders were awarded the man-of-the-match awards. Special
mention must also be made of Struan Tonnar who was taken to A &
E after a hard check on the boards but happily the injury does
not appear to be as bad as first feared.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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