Poor start costs Steeldogs dearly in home defeat

Andre Payette’s team – who finished the regular season in third place last season – went down 4-2 at home to Bracknell Bees on Saturday night.

For the third successive game they found themselves 3-0 down, this time before the first period break. But, unlike the previous home game against Swindon Wildcats, the Steeldogs were unable to overcome the deficit this time.

Matt Foord, Lukas Smital and Rob Lamey all scored before the break, but the second period belonged to the home side when they came back to make it a one-goal game. Defenceman Dmitry Rodin struck on the powerplay at 25.27 before captain Greg Wood made it 3-2 at 33.26.

But as they chased the game deep into the third period, Shaun Thompson popped up for the visitors to score an empty net goal at 59.48 to secure both points in an unexpected win.