SUNDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2025
Streatham Not in 7th Heaven
Match Report by Chris Beal
We weren’t good enough, and we can’t lose games to the teams we’re fighting for championships with. That was the opinion of Streatham head coach Ben Paynter on Sunday evening following his sides 7-1 loss in the challenge cup to the Slough Jets..
Games between the Jets and RedHawks are always box office these days, and while the score line was not in the hots favour, it delivered box office hockey in spades.
The contest would begin with both sides testing each other’s netminders, Brett Shepherd in the Streatham crease and Matt Smital for the Jets.
An Ethan Lane chance early on and follow up rebound dig would create the first flash point of the game at 3 minutes. Seeing coach Ben Paynter and former Streatham enforcer Brandon Miles dropping the gloves. The fight got the crowd on its feet and set the tone for the next 57 minutes.
But the Jets would be the team to seize momentum around this time as at 336 the Jets opened the scoring. Seb Mohr setting up Juha Lindgren for the opener. Making it 1-0 to the visitors.
Tensions would continue to boil over in the game as hard body checks and aggressive physical play from both sides upped the ante. Before a line brawl would erupt at 1157 as Danny Ingoldsby, Ryan Watt, and Dan Rose would drop the gloves with Dylan Holicka, Lewis English and Brandon Miles
Miles would be ejected from the game in the aftermath of this incident, due to receiving a 2nd fighting major, along with an extra penalty for an obscene gesture. While all this was happening, fans were almost treated to the rarest of the rarest in a goalie fight as Shepherd and Smital closed the distance at centre ice. But the officials stepped in and stopped the fight before it could begin.
The period would close out with the Jets up 1-0 over the RedHawks.
The 2nd period would see RedHawks continue to generate chances on Smital’s net but the jets netminder would be equal to everything thrown at him, while around him his defence did a solid job of clearing rebounds and stopping lose pucks from finding Streatham players. A delay of game penalty against debuting Streatham defenceman Marcus Bradley would give the Jets a chance to extend the lead to 2. And that is exactly what happened as Ollie Hemmings-Maher would net the Jets 2nd of the night at 28 minutes.
Then at 35:53 former Redhawk Ben Ealey Newman would score to put the Jets 3-0 up over the hosts. Another powerplay would be gifted to the Jets at 39 minutes, as Ryan Watt would get into a fight with Jacob Sopper, but an extra cross check and misconduct for getting a second fighting major would see Watt ejected from the game, and the Jets on the man advantage heading into the start of the 3rd period
The 3rd period would open with the Jets thinking they had added goal number 4 in the opening seconds, but referee Blaine Evans would wash it out for the net being off its pegs. But the 4th goal would be netted by Christian Mohr at 4029 to further extend the lead.
4 minutes later at 4453 Ben Ealey Newman would net his second of the night, making it now Slough 5-0 Streatham. Lewis English would then score the 6th goal for the visitors at 47 minutes. This goal would result in Danny Milton tagging in for Brett Shepherd as the young netminder was swapped for the experienced Milton. With 13 minutes on the clock coach Paynter was likely hoping Milton’s presence in net could stem the bleeding and maybe allow the RedHawks back into the game.
Minutes later at 4912 that hope would be kindled as Ziggy Beesley would get on the end of a puck as the whole Streatham line crashed the Jets net to break Smital’s shut out and make it 6-1 in favour of the visitors.
Now on the board Streatham would have a few golden chances to add more but could not convert. Before at 5930 Jacob Soper would catch a 2 on 1 break with Connor Redmond and wrap up the game and the scoring the with the Jets 7th of the game. The clock would tick down and see the RedHawks fall to a 7-1 defeat to the Jets.
Post-game, the response and assessment from coach Paynter was short and to the point.
“It’s not good enough, it’s not good enough on home ice, it’s not good enough in general. We should never be losing games like that. And ultimately against a team that hopefully we are going up against for trophies at the end of the year. It’s just overall not good enough.”
Up next for the RedHawks it's another tough test as the Slough Jets head to the High Road, this time in Challenge Cup action. Facing off Sunday 30th November at 18:45pm.
