Wightlink Raiders remain three points clear at the top of the ENL after a hard fought away win in Cardiff on Saturday night.
With 20 games played the team are now halfway through their league campaign and it seems clear that this year’s title race is likely to go right to the wire.
On Saturday a small but noisy away contingent joined the team on the long trip to Cardiff for a fixture the Raiders lost heavily twice last season. And the fans were rewarded early in the game as Richard Bentham and then Jason Gorrie gave the Raiders a 2-0 lead going into the first break.
Outshot by opponents
Period two was a different story as the Raiders fell victim to the referee’s whistle spending more than half the period shorthanded and being outshot 25-3 by their opponents. But the defence stood firm and conceded just the once to keep the advantage going into the final session.
Goals from Nathan Taylor and a second from Bentham then moved the Raiders into a commanding 4-1 lead before the inevitable comeback from a gutsy Cardiff team. They fought back to 4-3 before missing a penalty shot just six seconds from the end to ensure the Raiders took maximum points.
Double wins for Invicta at the weekend mean the lead at the top is down to 3 points but with some crucial games coming up in the next few weeks the league title race is clearly wide open.
Next up for Jeremy Cornish’s team is a trip to Bristol this Saturday before they welcome the league’s bottom club Swindon to Ryde Arena on Saturday 18th.
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Nicky Craft
