MATCH REPORT | PHANTOMS FALL SHORT IN RARE HOME LOSS

The WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms fell to a rare home defeat on Saturday night, as the Raiders returned to Romford with both points.

It was an end-to-end game in the opening exchanges and Phantoms almost took the lead when Louie Kynaston centred for Tom Palmer out in front, but he couldn’t guide his effort into the net.

Andrew Shewfelt then went in on a breakaway for the Raiders, but shot wide on the backhand.

The Romford Raiders took the lead on 4:18 through Jake Sylvester, and doubled their lead just under a minute later when Tyler Nixon’s shot from the left circle found its way into the net.

It went from bad to worse for Phantoms just shy of the ten minute mark, when Shewfelt pulled a move in front of Hayden Lavigne and applied the finishing touch.

Phantoms thought they’d got on the board through Nathan Salem shortly after, but after a lengthy discussion between the officials, the goal was ruled out.

And after Brad Bowering hit the crossbar at one end, Raiders struck again in the final minute of the first period when Shewfelt ripped a shot in off the post from out in front of net.

Phantoms almost pulled a goal back early in the second period when Duncan Speirs found Jarvis Hunt cutting through the right circle, but his effort was stopped brilliantly by Raiders goalie, Ethan James.

And they were punished once again on 26:13 when Joe Tomalin buried the puck past Lavigne to put a five goal gap between the sides.

They held the five goal advantage for just fourteen seconds, as Cam Hough found the back of the net amidst a scramble in front of the Romford goal.

Phantoms continued to try and climb the mountain and took another big step when Nathan Salem found the onrushing Hunt, who one timed his shot through James’ five hole to reduce the arrears back to three.

And Slava’s second line of Salem, Speirs and Hunt continued to work hard as the second period wore on - on their latest shift the chance fell to Speirs, but James produced another big stop on a good night for the Raiders’ goalie.

But Speirs did grab the goal his performance had deserved in the final minute of the period. When a spin-o-rama pass from Salem rebounded back to Speirs off the boards, the Scottish forward spun and shot through the five hole to set up a big third period.

Phantoms tried to carry their momentum into the third period but were met by a stern Raiders side, determined to hold onto the lead they had created for themselves.

In the closing stages, Phantoms pulled Hayden Lavigne in favour of the extra skater and were rewarded for that risk, when Hunt notched his second of the night in the closing seconds.

Phantoms went back to work in search of the equaliser, but ultimately couldn’t quite find the leveller as the clock ticked down to 0.