BILLINGHAM EAGLES V WHITLEY WARRIORS
ED1 NORTH
BILLINGHAM FORUM 30th OCTOBER 1999
The current ED 1 champions and league leaders the Billingham Eagles played hosts to the players , officials and fans of the Whitley Warriors. Tonight's game would likely prove to be of double interest firstly its a local derby and the result will be a key to deciding who takes the ED 1 North title. Warriors have got off to a shaky start to their league campaign , grasping a last minute draw at Kingston and also sharing the points with Altrincham , Billingham on the other hand are overcoming the early season problems and should make it six straight wins tonight .
FIRST PERIOD
The game opened at a good pace with the mood being set at 1:47 when Eagles Simon Hehir received a couple of soft punches as he tried to make his way back to the Billingham bench. The game was end to end with Eagles netminder Adam Flett standing up well and demonstrating Simon good stick work. Eagles opened their account at 4:11 with a goal from Andy Fletcher assisted by Paul "Spike" Winndridge. Eagles found themselves a man down at 5:48 when Simon Burns collected a 2 minute high sticking penalty. By the 11th minute Whitley had clearly slowed down and their game had turned scrappy with some niggly stickwork and hooking as Eagles Brian Perry found out as he tried to leave the Eagles defensive zone with a Whitley stick trying to hook his shoulder out of its socket , this was under the nose of the linesman who's eyes must have been firmly fixed on the blue line.Yet again Adam Flett responded well and denied Whitley any goals in the first period . Billingham 1 : Whitley 0.
SECOND PERIOD
After the period break it was apparent that the resurface had been a bit on the wet side resulting in puddles causing some of the passes to fall shot. At 23 minutes Paul Winndridge executed an excellent diagonal lifted pass from the point , the pass dropped down inch perfect to Gary Dowd at the opposite Warriors goal post , however a deflection of Dowdys skate denied him a goal. At 25 :56 Warriors tied it 1 goal each with a goal from Karl Culley assisted by Steve Winn. The Warriors fans then re-found their voices as they had become some what subdued towards the end of the first and into the second. At 26:03 Paul Winndridge picked up a dubious 2 minute slashing penalty , Warriors Steve Winn also decided he must have brocken some rule or other as he took his place on the penalty bench only to get off and rejoin play when it was decided he had not committed any offence. At 28:27 Whitley moved in front with a goal from Lee Baxter unassisted, Simon Burns collected a 10 minute misconduct penalty , things were tied again when 21 seconds later Eagles Martin Lewis put a rebound in to the warriors net assisted by Tom Brown .At 34:45 Tom Brown edged Eagles ahead scoring assisted by Simon Hehir. At 36:17 Andy Fletcer nearly lost a hand to a chopping Whitley Tomahawk, sorry stick , still no penalty called. An excellent piece of defensive work was performed at 38:03 when Gary Dowd dived to poke check the puck away from a breakaway Whitley player. Gary was again in the thick of it 21 seconds later when an open ice check resulted in a 2 minute cross check penalty being called by the Whitley bench .The second closed Billingham 3: Whitley 2.
THIRD PERIOD
Eagles Simon Burns did not ice for the third period , the third opened with some silky skating and smart stickwork from Andy Fletcher as he made his way through three Warriors. At 47:24 Whitley had their first penalty called. The resulting power play allowed a blistering slap shot that almost took the back out of the Whitley net (49:03) assisted by Andy Fletcher and Brian Perry. At 52:48 Simon Lewis got his second for the night and put the game beyond reach of the visitors , assisted by Simon Hehir and Richie Thornton. At 59:51 Eagles Paul Winndridge collected a 2+2 penalty for unsportsman conduct , the same penalty was collected by Warriors Bobby Bradley with Daniel Ord also collecting a 2 min roughing penalty.
FINAL SCORE
BILLINGHAM EAGLES 5 : WHITLEY WARRIORS 2
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| WHITLEY | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 10 | 14 | 12 | 36 |
| WHITLEY | 10 | 11 | 12 | 33 |