With the celebrations of another 4 point weekend for the Raiders comes the additional bonus of play-off qualification with the luxury of a spare weekend to savour the feeling and prepare.
Raiders took a tight 2-2 first period with the Bees on Saturday and stretched their legs a bit in the second and third to score an emphatic 8-2 win with Adam Laishram’s 4 goals and Tjay Anderson’s brace highlighting the game.
Sunday’s game in Peterborough had a slightly different feel but the Raiders were never behind despite losing Adam Laishram to a niggle after the first period. With Adam spectating for 2/3rd of the game he witnessed Raiders goal scoring across the squad as Zack Milton, Jake Sylvester, Jesper Eriksson, George Norcliffe, Callum Wells and Coy Prevost spread the load in this 6-3 win.
With results elsewhere seeing Bees win vs Solway in Slough and Solway losing in Dumfries to Telford Raiders secured 7th place and thereby establish most of their play-off rivals for the April mini leagues.
In a coincidental twist, two of the teams to feature in the same half of the draw as Raiders are Swindon and Milton Keynes. Raiders of course travel to Swindon on Saturday and host Milton Keynes on Sunday as interesting preparation for the same games to help determine who will qualify for the grand finals weekend in Coventry.
Raiders final opponent is to be determined between Telford and Peterborough according to their final results of the season. Telford have an away and home double vs Bristol whilst Peterborough have Bees and Swindon. Being currently level on points these two sets of results will determine which team plays in the Leeds – Hull – Bees group and which team plays in the Milton Keynes – Swindon – Raiders group. The team that collects the most points this coming weekend is rewarded by drawing the group headed by Leeds.
Raiders would like to congratulate Solway on an impressive first campaign, battling right till the last couple of weekends. Table below courtesy of Hockey Freaks facebook group.
