Published: Friday, 15th February, 2008 10:19
Blaz wins Jet hearts
By Observer Sport
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EPL Cup Final first leg
Bracknell Bees 3, Slough Jets 4
BLAZ Emersic won the hearts of Slough Jets fans last night (Thursday) after giving his side the advantage in the English Premier League Cup final.
Emersic’s goal with 1.37 left on the clock in the Valentine’s Day fixture secured the Jets a 4-3 victory in the first-leg of the final against their close rivals Bracknell Bees.
They now go into the deciding leg at home on Wednesday in pole position to lift their first piece of silverware in nine years.
However, it was not plain sailing for the Jets after an edgy affair that could easily have gone the other way.
Slough suffered a few scary moments in the first period as their goaltender Dean Skinns was called into action early on.
And the Bees opened the scoring through Matt Foord with a relatively soft goal from a defensive point of view.
However, the Jets finished the period in the lead after a powerplay goal from Steve Moria at 7.05 and an unassisted strike from Joe Ciccarello, who spared Moria’s blushes after he missed a one-on-one opportunity.
Slough should have been cruising when a speculative long-range effort from their import defenceman, Jan Krajicek, sneaked past Greg Rockman and into the Bracknell goal to give them a 3-1 lead.
But the visitors noticably tired in towards the end of the second period and conceded a short-handed goal to Michal Kanka before Adam Bicknell levelled up at 34.32.
The final period quickly decended into a long stalemate as both teams looked happy to settle for the draw.
However, the Jets stepped up the pace in the final five minutes and unleashed a barrage on the Bees goal.
Desperate measures were required to keep the puck out of the Bracknell goal as Stewart Tait was bundled over just as he was about to swipe the puck into an empty net.
But Slough kept coming back and, with Rockman in dissaray as play zipped back forth behind the net, Emersic showed a great piece of improvisation to scoop up the puck with his glove and lay it onto his stick before squeezing a shot past the goalie and inside the post.
The second leg of the final is due to take place at The Hangar on Wednesday at 7.45pm.
The Jets will also be in league action at the weekend, at home to Telford Tigers on Saturday (6.30pm) and away at Guildford Flames on Sunday (6pm).
Further Details
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