SOLIHULL Barons suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat away at Whitley Warriors in the NIHL North 1 division.
The Barons made the long trip up to Whitley Bay on Saturday to renew acquaintance with the North East town’s Warriors and while there were a number of positives to take from the tie, the visitors would board the bus home still waiting their first points of the season.
Within four minutes of the puck drop the home side had opened the scoring when a long range effort by Josh Maddock defeated Sam Hewitt in the Barons net.
With the Barons first line adjusting to the loss of injury listed Joe Henry it fell to the Ottosson, Eaton and Soar line to bring the Barons level by the period end, Thomas Soar getting the final touch.
The Warriors would however get the only other goal of the game on the half-hour mark with Callum Watson netting the winner.
While the Barons would continue to battle to the end and Sam Hewitt ensured the Warriors were kept to their two goals, they were rather limited luck and a strong performance by Richard Lawson in the Whitley net ensured the home side scooped all two points.
The Barons must now regroup ahead of the visit by the highly experienced Solway Sharks who will travel down from Scotland to visit the Barons this Sunday (face-off 6pm).
