Hull Seahawks boss Matty Davies blasts officials after Solway Sharks defeat
MATTY DAVIES pulled no punches in his assessment of the match officials after his team’s 5-2 defeat at Solway Sharks on Saturday.
“That was by far the worst refereeing performance I have ever seen – in my life,” said Davies. “And it’s not even close.
“Honestly, it’s a sad state of affairs when that is such a clear, deciding factor of a game.
“I felt we were the better team all night and the fact is – yes, we didn’t score when we should have scored – and their goalie Jordan Marr played really well.
“But, on the whole, to be as short as we were and to dominate the shots and chances like we did, we deserved more out of that game, for sure. I just think the refereeing was atrocious.”
Davies was particularly angry about penalty calls that weren’t given during the night, but his team were up against it when they found themselves 2-0 down inside 22 minutes.
Brock Bartholomew halved the deficit on the power play at 28.26 before Jordan Stallard levelled for the visitors just under four minutes later.
Jordan Buesa quickly regained the lead for the Sharks, the former Leeds Knights forward adding an empty netter to make it 5-2 with nine seconds remaining after Dylan Stewart had restored the two-goal lead for the hosts at 49.18 – adding to his earlier strike which had made it 2-0.
Second period strikes from Joseph Matthewman – at 23.26 and his first at NIHL National level – and Kyle Watson put Sheffield Steeldogs in control against hosts Bristol Pitbulls, who went into the second break trailing just 2-1 after Max Wigfield responded on the power play.
It proved a night on which the Steeldogs could not rest for one minute, the points only being secured thanks to an empty-net strike from Joonas Larinmaa with 24 seconds remaining.
The result moved the Steeldogs to within a point of leaders Swindon Wildcats ahead of Sunday night’s scheduled games.
Great Britain Under-20s got their World Championships campaign underway in Bucharest with a 4-3 win against Spain – the goals coming from Ricards Misins, Robbie Henderson, Sheffield Steeldogs’ Bailey Yates and Brynley Capps.