Streatham were unable to complete a double over Chelmsford on Saturday night as they went down 8-2 in the Cup at Brixton.
Hopes were high for the Redskins after the Londoners had beaten their Essex rivals 6-5 just a week earlier in the league however there was no such joy this time round.
Still missing Tyrone Miller from the line-up, Streatham did however bring back Casimir Madren Britton after long term injury had blighted the young defenseman’s season.
The game started with both sides creating chances as Ryan Bainbrough in the Chelmsford net and Will Sanderson in the Streatham net were kept busy early on. The breakthrough for Chelmsford came after nine minutes as Alex Green made a long stretch pass to Julius Sinkovic and his quick shot from the left wing eluded Sanderson and flew into the net.
Streatham hit back whilst shorthanded just four minutes later as last weeks’ hero Jakub Klima jinked through three Chieftains players before laying the puck back to Russ Stevens in the slot and his snap shot went straight into the top corner of the net.
A minute later Chelmsford were level as they broke with speed and Danny Hammond teed up Ross Brears perfectly and the Chieftains forward made no mistake with a good shot.
Things got a but feisty towards the end as Brears and Streatham’s Liam Rasmussen had a disagreement on the buzzer however despite words between the two teams as they came off the ice nothing of note happened.
Streatham came out hard in the second period and got their reward early on. Chieftains’ defenseman Danny Cox was given a two minute penalty for tripping and on the subsequent powerplay a big booming slapshot by Dom Hopkins from the point was spilled out by Bainbrough and Joe Allen was on hand to tap the puck into the net and draw Streatham level.
This elation was short lived as the visitors really stepped up through the gears. Led by player coach Gary Clarke and ably supported by the industrious Hammond, Chelmsford went ahead three minutes later as Clarke drifted into the slot and fired home a pass from former Redskin Michael Ranby.
Streatham appeared to steady the ship but could get no momentum going forward and then came a mini collapse of concentration in their own end. Clarke showed great composure drifting across the top of the circle before timing his shot to beat the stranded Sanderson and then two minutes later he had his hat trick as he finished another pass from Sinkovic.
Youngster Cameron Bartlett converted a Darren Brown pass just a minute later to make it six two as the Chieftains began to sense a comprehensive victory.
Streatham held firm for the remainder of the period and started the third much brighter. Bainbrough had found his groove however and was dealing with everything coming his way. At the other end Sanderson was proving his worth with superb saves from Sinkovic and Tibor Schneider keeping the score down.
With less than three minutes remaining Chelmsford finally managed to add to their tally with who else but Clarke scoring albeit with a bit of good fortune whilst under pressure from the Redskins defence and then with a second left in the game Schneider finally got his goal as he finished his breakaway by sliding the puck under Sanderson.
The final scoreline was 8-2 to Chelmsford with Allen picking up the beers for Streatham and Clarke doing the same for Chelmsford.
