It was a black Sunday for Chelmsford Chieftains as they crashed to only their second defeat of the season to arch rivals Romford Raiders at Rom Valley Way.

Ironically, Chieftains had gone 14 games since their last defeat, also inflicted away at the hands of Romford.

Chieftains Coach Shaun McFadyen was understandably upset at the defeat saying: "I'm angry and upset at theway we performed. On the big matches I expect my big players to play a big game and many of them didn't.

''They know who they are, and they don't need me to tell them, but I expect them to pick their games up significantly this weekend when we face top-of-the-table Swindon.

''We will address this defeat in training this week and I expect them to respond.

''Although I am not happy, let me assure the rest of the teams in the league, we may have lost a battle but we still intend to win the war, the season is only part-way through and we still have the best record of all the teams".

Sunday's match started in a flurry of end-to-end activity and both teams went close to opening the scoring in the early exchanges.

Chieftains gradually got on top in the opening half of the period and felt somewhat aggrieved at the manner in which they conceded the first goal.

It appeared to the players and many in the crowd that a fine Duane Ward effort had ricocheted from inside the Raiders net only for the 'goal' not to be given.

From that escape, Raiders broke quickly and Jon Beckett was on hand to force a goal at the other end with Simon Smith's net appearing to be off it's moorings.

Nonetheless the goal, timed at 10.14, was allowed to stand.

Although Chieftains tried to force the game in the remainder of the period, they were unable to break the Raiders' defence and when they did they found Chris Douglas in the home net was having one of his better games.

The visitors started the second period lethargically and found themselves three goals adrift within a minute.

At 23.55 Chieftains conceded the puck needlessly in centre ice and Raiders' new Swedish signing Fredrik Ytfeldt found Kyle Amyotte for a simple tap in.

Chieftains were, to all intents and purposes, buried at 24.27 when, unable to clear their zone, they conceded another cheap goal, this time scored by Rob Simnor.

Worse was to follow for Chieftains as Andy Hannah picked a needless 2+10 penalty which will, under the points totting-up system', see him miss the vitally important forthcoming match against Swindon.

Respite for Chieftains came in the form of a short-handed goal at 28.04 when Ian Cooper's good break and cross was forced in by Ward.

The euphoria, however, was short-lived as Raiders regained their three goal lead at 30.29.

With Ryan Mair also in the penalty box for charging, short-handed Chieftains could do nothing as Matt Hughes' slapshot sailed past Smith.

Chieftains weathered the storm for the remainder of the period but realistically only had their pride to salvage in the last period.

Once again Chieftains, without playing well, had more of the scoring chances in the last period, but saw those opportunities going begging time after time.

With time ebbing away, they fell to another soft goal scored between pad and goalpost, hit inoccuosly by Danny Marshall, to see Raiders take a 5-1 lead. Chieftains hit a consolation second through one of their successes on the night, new import utility player, Bill Morra.

Good forcing from the visitors left the puck bobbing around in the Raiders' zone and with Douglas scrambling to find his feet, Morra forced the puck into the net at 58.04.

Although the scoresheet shows Chieftains outshot their hosts 53 to 33, this did not reflect the quality of the play and Chieftains will take scant solace from the fact.

Quite clearly the team will need to pick themselves up quickly to beat league leaders Swindon Phoenix this Sunday (December 3).

Chieftains are still the league's quality outfit and provided they get back to somewhere near their best they should be favourites to get the two points.

The match against Swindon Phoenix faces off at the Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre in Chelmsford at 6.30pm.

The scorers in last Sunday's match were: (Chieftains) Duane Ward 1+0, Bill Morra 1+0, and Ian Cooper 0+1. (Raiders) Rob Simnor 1+1, Danny Marshall 1+1, Matt Hughes 1+0, Kyle Amyotte 1+0, Jon Beckett 1+0, Richard Tomalin 0+1, James Grimstead 0+1, and Fredrik Ytfeldt 0+1.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.