Racers dig deep to score three in final ten minutes against Aberdeen

Frustrations reach boiling point at the net. Picture: Ian Coyle

Racers director of hockey, Tony Hand, admitted his side looked flat in the opening 40-minutes, and despite numerous power-play opportunities against a physical Lynx outfit, could not get the better of netminder Craig Chalmers who was voted man of the match.

The visitors took the lead midway through the second period, and looked to have wrapped up the points when, with a terrific turn and shot from the circle, Christian Johnson doubled their lead with ten minutes to play.

Racers responded and got back in the game seconds later, Daniel Abercrombie scoring after good work from Callum Boyd.

Indiscipline was Aberdeen’s eventual undoing and Abercrombie equalised on a power-play by reacting quickly to be first to the rebound after his initial effort had been saved. Ireland, again on the power-play, scored the winner with an almost identical goal.

The victory came on the back of a gritty 3-2 win in Fife on Saturday night against Kirkcaldy Kestrels, also in the Stuart Robertson Cup. Boyd, new signing Sean Beattie, and Aaron Robertson all scored.

A relieved Hand, said: “In the first two periods we were really flat, we’d had a tough game Saturday night and we were tired. But once we scored, it gave us the momentum and we managed to go on and win it. Prior to that we had been frustrated and taking shots from bad angles.

“Credit to Aberdeen, they came here and played a really good road game. We’ve not had to dig deep like that at home for a while. Their goalie played really well and before the third period we spoke about shooting for rebounds and trying to draw him out of position; you could see that’s how we got our goals.”