Everyone Active Raiders suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat away to Basingstoke Bison on Saturday evening despite a solid fightback after trailing early on.
Head coach Sean Easton and his side took early penalties which saw them go 2-0 down by the eighth minute of play as the hosts capitalised twice on the powerplay thanks to Ashley Tait and Aidan Doughty.
Raiders James Hounsome went to the penalty box for a slashing call where Bison’s player/coach Tait floated in a point shot after passes between Adam Jones and Zach Milton in the fifth minute.
In the eighth minute of play Aidan Doughty netted from in front of the visitors goalie Ethan James as Milton and Tait linked up following an interference penalty on Rio Grinell-Parke.
Raiders went into the first period break trailing 2-0 and it took 12 minutes into the second period for the Raiders to reduce the deficit as winger Jake Sylvester notched a powerplay goal.
Less than two minutes later they levelled the score as Hounsome beat Alex Mettam after Jj Pitchley rushed up the ice and picked out his line-mate in the slot.
The lead didn’t last long as Bison restored their advantage in the 38th minute of play as Liam Morris scored on a delayed penalty as he linked up with Doughty and Jay King.
Raiders pushed for an equaliser in the third period, but failed to find one, and had to make the trip back to Romford with nothing to show for their efforts.
