Comeback kings stun Solent on South coast

Things got off to a feisty start just five seconds in as Brandon Miles dropped the gloves with Devils forward Mitch Murray. 

Most visiting teams struggle to adapt early on to the smaller sized ice pad in Gosport, however the RedHawks scored first this time, with Ben Ealey-Newman getting the sold out away block of fans on their feet.

A familiar tale of penalty trouble followed with Solent's potent powerplay unit on hand to take full advantage. Alex Murray's men had beaten Chelmsford the previous weekend with five powerplay goals and they showed their threat again, racing to a 3-1 first period lead as Streatham players sat in the penalty box.

At the break Streatham coach Michael Farn followed in the footsteps of Manchester Utd manager Alex Ferguson by giving his players the hairdryer treatment and agreeing with player pleas to change jerseys, similar to Fergie in 2006 against Southampton.

Solent had iced in red and black on home ice, clashing with Streatham's black and red away kit. Thankfully the Streatham warm up jerseys in NHS blue rarely clash with any other team kit and so Streatham skated out in the second period transformed in more ways than one.

The move worked a treat with a dominant second period performance that included three unanswered goals for the visitors and only two shots on Damien King at the other end of the ice. Ben Paynter, Brandon Miles and Ryan Watt all scoring to give the RedHawks a 4-3 lead with 20 minutes to go.

The third period saw Streatham stay out of the box and continue to score past Chico Cole in the Devils net. Paynter bagged a second goal to add to efforts from Scott Bailey and Vanya Antonov, with Mitch Murray completing his hat trick for the hosts.

The game ended with a 7-4 win for Streatham in front of the delighted away block and man of the match was awarded to Milique Martelly.

Streatham host Slough Jets on Sunday at 6:45pm and tickets are available online and on the gate.