Brave defeat brings great hope

By Matt Johnson, Barons Press Officer

Despite a gutsy showing, the Barons were once again left empty handed on their travels after the most heroic of defeats to title-chasing Whitley Warriors.

Darren Bellerby’s injury woes continued, with barely two full lines available to dress for the trip to Whitley Bay. But nonetheless, a stubborn Barons battled neck and neck with the Warriors until a calamitous last 11 minutes swung the tie in favour of the home side.

It was Solihull who took the lead after 12 minutes when Rob Eley pounced on the powerplay to put him on a total of 99 for the club. The Warriors squeezed an equalizer just minutes before the break, but a second powerplay goal shortly afterwards courtesy of Dale White gave the visitors a shock 2-1 lead.

It appeared as if the bright start had faded when Whitley snatched two early goals in the second to go ahead for the first time, but Phil Lee immediately hammered home yet another powerplay goal to draw level at 3-3.

The Warriors capped off a frantic opening five minutes of the period by retaking the lead, and that was how it stayed until the 36th minute. Rob Eley hit the Barons FOURTH powerplay goal to make it 4-4 and in doing so, notched up his 100th career goal for the Barons – quite a feat.

The depleted Barons bench performed heroically to keep up to pace with a fully staffed Warriors side, but eventually the wheels came off.

With the game still evenly poised at 4-4, Whitley pushed on in the final period and unbuckled the Barons resistance with four goals in six minutes to seal a far from comfortable victory.

The weekend’s two defeats now means that the Barons must win all of their four remaining games and hope Coventry lose all of theirs if they are to avoid the relegation trapdoor - difficult, but not impossible.

Three of those games take place at fortress Hobs Moat - the first on Sunday against Blackburn Hawks in what is much more than just a league clash.

The game will double up as the Steve Perks Memorial Trophy match and the Barons will be keen to keep the iconic trophy on Solihull soil again after defeating Flintshire Freeze last season.

Solihull Barons v Blackburn Hawks. Sun Feb 26, face-off 6pm, tickets £6 adults, £3 concessions.

Goals: Eley (2), White, Lee
Assists: White (2), Adams (3), Eley, Winwood, Andrews
Man of the Match: Rob Eley