Seventh heaven for Solent Devils after double delight

Solent Devils player Ralfs Circenis celebrates his goal against Bracknell Hornets. Picture: Dave Chapman

The Gosport Ice Arena outfit ended a run of four consecutive defeats with a 4-1 triumph against the Raiders on Saturday.

Mitchell Murray, Richard Facey and Ralf Circenis all netted in that success – and they hit the target again 24 hours later as the Devils beat the Hornets 4-2 on home ice.

The opening period against London Raiders was goalless, although Monty Gailer suffered concussion and a gash to his chin after going down hard on the ice behind the Devils goal.

The visiting skipper, Tom Davis, was given a two-minute penalty before the game came to life after the break with four goals in 10 minutes.

Facey, Steve Gosset and Circenis peppered the Raiders goal with shots, although none of them managed to beat Michael Gray.

With an assist from George Norcliffe, Mitchell Murray finally found the net – and this opened the floodgates.

Despite losing Gosset for tripping, Circenis scored a short-handed goal with an assist from Facey.

Mitchell Murray then went on to get an assist as his brother Alex scored.

And he got yet another assist, this time as Facey made it 4-0.

The Raiders managed to hit back as the end of the period approached.

Mason Webster found Davis and he sent the puck on to Marek Nahlik, who managed to beat Christian Cole.

The third period was a triumph for the defence of the Devils as Cole saved all 10 shots that came his way.

At the other end, Gray was equally impressive – saving 12 times from the visiting forwards.

The Devils returned home to host the second-bottom Hornets on Sunday.

In a physical opening period, which saw each team receive three penalties, there were no goals.

The Gosport crowd had to wait until just after the half-hour mark for the deadlock to be broken when Circenis netted following good work by Norcliffe and Facey.

The Devils managed to strike again as Alex Murray and Andrew Magee teed up Mitchell Murray for his eighth goal of the season.

At the start of the third quarter, the Hornets stepped up a gear.

Cole saved a wrap-around from Josh Martin only for Bradley Watchorn to pick up the rebound and make it 2-1.

Just 64 seconds later Richard Brown restored the Devils’ two-goal cushion after latching on to a breakaway pass from Facey.

Facey then made certain of victory with a fourth goal.

The Hornets hit back with less than two minutes to play as a fierce shot by Martin escaped Cole’s glove.

But the Devils were not to be denied and are now three points clear of the Raiders in seventh spot.