Last week we went through previous meetings between Whitley and the Solihull Barons, and as promised this week we will go through a couple of games from fourteen seasons ago. Solihull were playing in a higher league then with imports, while the Warriors were looking to join them there for the following season. In fact after these two meetings the Barons even thought that would be a good idea.
By the time both teams met in the 2001-02 season, Solihull were leading the English Premier League, while Whitley were on their way to a historic grand slam of trophies.
Sun, Dec 9, 2001 3-9
Tiredness, caused by a short bench, proved to be Whitley's downfall, after we more than matched the Premier League side for the first two periods. Goals from Karl Culley after just 62 seconds and Andrew Tindale at 15:35 silenced a sparse Barons crowd. The home side drew level by the 29th minute with two quick goals, but Culley scored at 31:54 to give the visitors the lead again. Two quick, cheap penalties gave Solihull an opportunity they couldn't afford to miss, and in Dan Prachar had just the man for the job. Solihull finally took the lead at 39:37. The home side scored five unanswered goals in the final period, but Whitley had put down a marker in their attempt to join a higher league.
Scorers: Karl Culley 2+0, Andrew Tindale 1+0, Kevin Bucas, James Hutchinson & Stuart Lonsdale 0+1.
Sun, Feb 17, 2002 6-7
The Barons team that visited Hillheads, contained Canadian Forward, Duncan Cook who dropped the gloves with a young Rob Wilson. A year later, Cook would return with Peterborough to attack even younger players.
Former Durham Wasps player Kevin Conway also appeared along with Finnish forward Antti Makikyro.
Solihull took these challenge games seriously and iced all six of their imports, but couldn't break down Whitley's resolute defence. Amazingly Whitley only had two senior blueliners available, as well as two U19 players.
Despite being short on defense, Solihull's four import forwards struggled to find the back of our net.
Whitley's forwards fore-checked hard every shift to create goals, and at 6-4 nearly pulled off a memorable win. Eventually we gave up two quick goals and that helped Solihull to turn the game in their favour.
Whitley also had stand in goalie Greg Rockman, from the Birmingham Rockets, and he even saved a penalty shot.
The Barons last visited Hillheads during the 2011-12 Season. After last weeks exciting game down in the West Midlands, part 2 has all the makings a great sequel.
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