Chelmsford Chieftains missed out on the chance of defending the League Cup after letting a three-goal advantage slip at the hands of the Isle of Wight Raiders.

Close to the end of the second period of Sunday's second leg tie, Raiders fans were already preparing to bid goodbye to their players who looked at the time to be in their last game of the season.

But in the end it is the Raiders who will contest the final against either Invicta or Swindon after an amazing reversal left the 'Islanders' 10-9 aggregate winners over the Chieftains, who now have just the League play-offs to aim for.

Full match reports can be found below.

ISLE OF WIGHT RAIDERS...........................5

CHELMSFORD CHIEFTAINS.......................5

(English Premier League Cup Semi-Final First Leg)

Chelmsford Chieftains made a fine effort in Saturday's first leg of the League Cup semi-final, a game they had to keep tight to give themselves a chance in the home leg the following evening.

The visitors started briskly on a tiny rink, but fell behind to Raiders' first attack when Darcy Cahill beat a static Simon Smith in the Chieftains goal at 2.31.

Chieftains responded well and at 3.47 a good Duane Ward -Blake Sorensen move left Jake French to thunder his blue-liner past Craig Wynn in the home net to level the scores.

At 7.00 a quick break by Cahill left Tony Blaize to beat Smith with ease to give Raiders the edge once again.

Just 38 seconds into the second period, the Raiders put daylight between the teams when Cahill netted his second goal after a goalmouth scramble.

Chieftains did well to hang on to things as raiders mounted considerable pressure and with Billy Price penalised for a slashing penalty they found themselves a man down.

As so often happens in hockey Chieftains hit a short-handed goal, when Sorensen put Ward clear to beat Wynn at 31.45.

However, still with the man advantage, Raiders pulled clear again as Richard Hargreaves' speculative effort was deflected into the net at 32.59.

An amazing phase of play was culminated as Chieftains again reduced the deficit to just one goal when Richard Whiting hit home a rasping goal from the narrowest of angles at 34.53.

Even more amazing was that the goal was credited to Jamie Randall.

Chieftains' fans euphoria was short lived as Raiders scored their fifth goal. It was again a poor goal to give away as an innocuous blue-liner from Jason Coles beat a bemused Smith to leave the score 5-3 to Raiders with the last 20 minutes to go.

Chieftains Coach Shaun McFadyen replaced Smith with Andy Moffatt in the visitors' goal and the move seemed to inspire Chieftains as they took control of the match.

Their constant pressure eventually told and at 46.48 a brilliant surging move involving Sorensen and French left Ward to beat Wynn with a wrist shot.

The comeback was complete at 53.20 when, on a power-play, French sent Ryan Mair clear to deceive Wynn and tie the game 5-5 to leave a tantalising second leg in prospect.

Man of the match awards went to two industrious British players, Tony Blaize for Raiders and Jamie Randall for Chieftains.

The Chieftains' scorers were: Duane Ward 2+1, Jake French 1+2, Jamie Randall 1+0, Ryan Mair 1+0, and Blake Sorensen 0+4.

CHELMSFORD CHIEFTAINS.......................4

ISLE OF WIGHT RAIDERS..........................5

(English Premier League Cup Semi-Final Second Leg)

Chelmsford Chieftains had their hearts broken and their pride bruised as they let a three-goal lead and eventually the tie slip away to the Raiders at Riverside on Sunday.

The game started brightly for Chieftains, and the visitors had Craig Wynn to thank early on as he stood between wave after wave of Chieftains' attacks to keep the scores level.

Chieftains nosed in front at 14.42 when a pass down the centre from Blake Sorensen found Duane Ward and he beat Wynn high to his blocker side to the relief of the Riverside faithful.

Chieftains were caught with a sucker punch after just 51 seconds of the second period, when the defence were caught out of position leaving Jason Coles to give Chieftains goalkeeper Andy Moffatt no chance for the equaliser.

Chieftains then started to dominate and three goals in six minutes should have sealed the tie.

At 23.02, Sorensen again was instrumental in setting up the goal, when he nailed defender Scott Carter in the corner leaving Ward to net his second goal.

With Raiders' Gareth Owen in the sin-bin for interference, Chieftains helped themselves to a third goal when, at 26.04 Lee Cowmeadow's slapshot was deflected past Wynn to make it 3-1.

The home side added a fourth goal at 29.19 and looked to have sealed the tie.

Raiders had just returned to full strength after a penalty on Andy Pickles when the puck broke to Blake Sorensen, who took his time in hitting the target at 29.19.

Chieftains were guilty of complacency as they squandered two guilt-edged chances and then defensive slackness let in Pickles to beat Moffatt from the blue line at 35.55.

At 4-2 at the start of the final period Chieftains should have coasted to victory. Instead, they deserted the game play and surrendered the initiative to a spirited Raiders side.

It took a dubious refereeing decision from Glen Meier to change the course of the tie for Chieftains.

Former Chieftains player Pete Morley dragged captain Jake French into a scuffle and it was French who fared the worse, picking up a 2+2+2 penalty, leaving Chieftains short-handed.

Seconds later, Duane Ward knelt on the puck and was handed a delay of game penalty.

Two players short, Chieftains held out for just eight seconds as Luc Chabot scored for Raiders, and they then equalised at 48.23 when Darcy Cahill scored a wraparound effort.

It left Chieftains on the back foot and although they put intense pressure on the Raiders goal, they could not score and inevitably disaster struck for Chieftains when Raiders took the lead for the first time as Hargreaves hit a blue liner past Moffatt at 55.12.

Chieftains could not find the equaliser despite waves of pressure and as the final hooter came, the obvious joy that befell Raiders and their fans was met with utter despair for the home team.

Defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for coach McFadyen and his team for having done all the hard work and getting themselves in a winning position

Youngs Brewers' man-of-the-match awards went to Luc Chabot for Raiders and to crestfallen hero Duane Ward for the Chieftains.

A Chieftains spokesman said: "The club has experienced the highs and lows of sport this season, but this ranks as the lowest.

''The team played so well to get to a three goal advantage and then to see it disappear was soul-destroying. It will need some true character for us to get ourselves up for Invicta, now we'll see what we're really made of.''

The defeat leaves Chieftains with just the League play-offs to aim for at the end of a hard season which promised much and has slipped gradually away.

They face Invicta Dynamos in the first leg of the league semi-final on Sunday in Gillingham, before returning to Riverside for the second leg a week later, on Sunday, March 18.

Happy times: Chelmsford Chieftains players celebrate one of their four goals against the Isle of Wight Raiders on Sunday. Their joy later turned to despair however, as the Raiders clawed their way back into the match and won 5-4 to book their place in the league cup final.

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