London Raiders forward Jacob Ranson is writing a blog during the 2014/15 season
Last weekend was a massive push in showing what we are capable of doing with our team now.
Saturday’s win over Streatham was great as it was one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen at Lee Valley since the Raiders moved here.
I’d like to think it was because of my 50th appearance, but I think it was more for the battle of the JKs!
The game was probably one of the better ones I’ve played in my shortlived NIHL career so far.
There were some great plays, passes and speed, with back and forth scoring, so I’m sure it must have been a good one to watch.
All our lines were clicking and it was definitely our best team performance yet as everyone dug deep and played the best I’ve seen. That’s why we got the two points!
It was great playing with Chongy and a fellow Jakub. Sorry if Glenn’s announcing of ‘Jakub’ Ranson made you think I was a Swedish import with my long blonde hair!
Unfortunately I couldn’t score a hat-trick like a lot of imports would, so I had to settle for launching myself into the back of the net.
It was great picking up two goals in the 6-3 win, though, as I think it showed that our line really clicked well and was firing on even strength and the PP.
Sunday was rather disappointing. I know most people would look at the result and say we only lost by one, not a bad result. But being 5-0 up and losing 6-5 is not really acceptable to me.
We have to be better than that as a side and use the squad we have to defend a lot better.
I do feel that we didn’t have the spark like we had on Saturday, which I think could have been a mixture of the big ice pad and cutting the squad down in the game as I think a lot of the players playing the big minutes were tiring and it really let Streatham turn the game around.
This weekend I think we can outplay Streatham and get our revenge on them if we play smart, clever hockey like we did last time out in Lee Valley.
Getting two points on Saturday will put the pressure on Oxford for Sunday’s game as they will be in need of wins to catch us.
The Oxford game is a massive fixture for us, as it could pretty much cement our place in the league and give us a play-off spot, just through winning that game.
It’s a must-win game, but I think four points are on offer for us this weekend so we need to grab them all and keep pushing now. Come the play-offs teams won’t be keen on facing us.
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