Chelmsford Chieftains overcame some jittery moments to eventually win Sunday's important league clash against Essex rivals, Romford Raiders.

With goalkeeper, Chad Macleod, making his league debut for Chieftains and Jon Cotton and David Heavey playing their first away game for the club, there was much for the 100 plus Chelmsford supporters to look forward to.

Chieftains were forced to play without the benefit of the match clock which remained out of service and relied on the home timekeepers to keep the crowd and teams updated.

Chieftains started well and Nerminen in the Raiders goal was the busier goalkeeper in the early stages.

Against the run of play, Raiders mounted a sustained attack and with Chieftains unable to clear their zone, Neil Stower hit a good 'poacher's' goal on 7.15.

With ex-Chieftains, Ben Pitchley in the penalty box for holding, Chieftains drew level. Good work by Jake French and Karl Rogers left Dave Heavey to tap the ball home at 9.37.

The second period was only 1.53 old when Raiders regained the lead.

A mix-up around the Chieftains' net left another ex-Chieftain, Billy Rawles to steer the puck into an unguarded net.

Chieftains once again responded positively and with Craig Metcalf having been penalised for interference, they scored a short-handed goal after Dave Heavey's strong forechecking left Rogers to angle his shot into an unguarded net.

Chieftains took the lead at 28.02 when Andy Hannah's drop pass was smashed home from the blue line by Jon Main.

Back came Raiders with a power-play goal through Sebor at 33.57 with Karl Goebel in the penalty box for interference.

Having been back on the ice for less than a minute, Goebel was thrown out of the game for a check from behind on Rawles, a call which had earlier in the game brought penalties of 2+10 on Tero Sarkinieni.

Chieftains found themselves on a power-play early in the last period and Hannah fired in a superb shot at 44.15 to give Chieftains the lead.

30 seconds later, Komulainen levelled things up after Chieftains failed to clear their zone.

A string of penalties threatened to disrupt the game and Chieftains once again fell behind when, being a man down on 47.31, Komulainen netted again.

The character of Chieftains was demonstrated by the performance of Richard Whiting who had not been iced in the first two periods.

The young winger stepped onto the ice and with his back to goal, hit a spectacular back-handed goal to tie the game for the fifth time.

Whiting was then instrumental in Chieftains' match winner, when he collected a Hannah pass and his speed carried him into the Raiders' zone and an inch perfect pass was buried home by Cotton on 55.42.

With Raiders desperate to get the sixth goal, they ran into penalty trouble and could not mount a telling raid.

A thrilling game which attracted some controversial penalty decisions kept the spectators on the edge of their seats throughout and typified the clashes between two evenly matched sides, and Richard Whiting won the man-of-the-match award.

A Chieftains' spokesman said: "With wins over Invicta and Romford, things have started to turn for us.

''The 'feelgood' factor is beginning to return at an important stage of the season. I am convinced we will give the league favourites a real run for their money."

One of those favourites, Milton Keynes Kings, provide Chieftains' next opposition on Sunday, at the Riverside Ice & Leisure Cenrte in Chelmsford.

The face-off is scheduled for 6.30 pm.

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