SOLIHULL Barons considered themselves unlucky to go down 7-2 to leaders Sheffield Steeldogs, having been equal to everything for at least the first half of the game.
After a frenetic first five minutes, which saw the Sheffield forwards pressure the Barons end while the home side played on the counter, it would be one such counter which got the opening goal of the game.
Elliott Farrell provided the puck to Filip Supa for Solihull’s first goal after five minutes.
Within a minute Barons had doubled their lead as Adam Brittle fired a speculative shot toward the Steeldogs net, with the Sheffield keeper misjudging his glove hand positioning to give Solihull goal number two.
The remainder of the period was fairly well balanced but a powerplay at the end would allow the visitors to claw a goal back as Milan Kolena’s shot rolled off the pads of Sam Hewitt and into the net.
Three minutes into the second period and the Steeldogs got their equaliser as Andrew Hurst slid the puck under Hewitt via a shot from the right-hand boards.
As the period wore on the ice started to tilt towards Sheffield and when a soft tripping penalty was called on Marcus Maynard, Ash Calvert took his chances to get the go ahead goal.
A minute later Adrian Palak rounded a sprawling Hewitt to give Sheffield a two-goal buffer.
Barons would continue to push when chances came their way but there was to be no further scoring before the second period ended in a flurry of scuffles.
The final period continued in much the same vein, with the Steeldogs edging the balance of play and Barons pushing hard when given the chance for a breakout.
The Steeldogs further extended their lead as Thomas Relf scored from close in through a busy crease for Sheffield’s fifth goal.
With the clock running down, Barons’ chances of putting a bit of shine on the scoreline disappeared with a couple of late penalties.
Sheffield converted these into goals via Ash Calvert and Nathan Salem to give a perhaps somewhat flattering 7-2 scoreline in favour of the visitors.
Barons are on the road to Blackburn on Sunday.
