Lookers of Yardley Solihull Barons : 6
Sutton Sting : 2

After the excitement of Wednesday’s charity tie against the Elite Sheffield Steelers, on Sunday evening it was back to league business as the Sutton Sting travelled to take on the Lookers of Yardley Solihull Barons. With both sides sitting mid table a close encounter was predicted and so it would prove to be.

For the first fifteen minutes both sides battled hard and while the bulk of the play was in the Sutton end there was always a clear threat from the Sting on the break. While the Barons managed a good number of shots, robust Sting defence limited the quality and accuracy of these. The deadlock would however be broken during a spell of 4 on 4 play in the fifteenth minute, Joe Henry finding space in front of goal to provide a clean pass to Niklas Ottosson for the Barons opener.

The second period would begin at a similar high tempo with both sides giving a strong account before a check from behind to Solihull's Conor Gordon created a hiatus as medical services were called to treat Gordon. Upon the restart the Barons quickly found the net, Joe Henry being fed by linemate Josh Bruce. Five minutes on and it would be Bruce himself who found the net, Tomas Janak finding Solihull's number 40 lurking on the Sting blue line, leaving Bruce a deke to beat the Sting netminder. With a minute of the period left Bruce would find the net once more, this time in a shorthanded effort to leave the Barons 4-0 up going into the final twenty minutes.

In the final period the Sting were allowed back into the game, two goals in quick succession with around ten minutes left on the clock pegged back the Barons lead. Any tension Solihull may have had were eased quickly as a defensive mix up saw Ed Eaton gifted the puck straight in front of the Sutton net with the Barons forward clinically finishing. The final few minutes saw Solihull take their tally to 6 with youngster Brandon Anderton getting his first goal as a senior Baron.

The Barons have one more game before Christmas when it is again the Sutton Sting who are back at Hobs Moat and if the game is played at the same tempo as this evening’s tie then fans are inline for a stunner of a game. Sunday 20th December, Face-off - 6:00pm