It was a mixed fortune weekend for the NIHL2 side the Chelmsford Warriors as they went down, unexpectedly, to a 5-1 home defeat on Saturday night to a rejuvenated Bristol Pitbulls side. Bristol came into the game at the wrong end of the table and it was expected to be a comfortable win for Dean Birrell’s men. However, Richie Hargreaves and his West Country side had other ideas and ran in five unanswered goals, before a late strike from Gary Brown earnt a bit of respectability to the scoreline. John Dibble in the Pitbulls’ net had a strong performance and arguably should have picked up the man of the match award for the visitors, although that was not to say Shannon Taylor didn’t have a good performance.

On Sunday, it was clear Birrell had read the riot act to the players as a much improved performance from the home side saw them turn over the Slough Jets in a 6-3 win. The goals came from a brace by Ben Osborne, Dan Peters, Stevie Woodford, Mason Webster and man of the match Tom Wilson. This result leaves the Warriors joint secnd in the table by one point with league leaders Peterborough Islanders, with a game in hand. In Kent, the Chieftains were in league action against Invicta Dynamos and ran riot in the first two periods. They raced into a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. The goals came courtesy of a four-goal haul by Julius Sinkovic – in arguably his best game for the Chieftains – Tibor Schneider and a short-handed marker from Danny Wright. There was also time for two scraps in the final period with Danny Cox squaring off with Aaron Strawson and getting the win, before Michael Ranby doffed his helmet and facecage and took down Anthony Lennon in a decent fight.

Next weekend the Chieftains welcome their biggest rivals, Romford Raiders, to the Riverside on Sunday night in possibly the biggest league game of the season to date. The Raiders are fourth in the table, one point behind the Chieftains, with three games in hand. The Chieftains are in second spot, one point off Wightlink who currently sit top of the pile.