Captain Sam, Tamas And Alan On Fire For Title-Chasing Cardiff

Cardiff Fire 7, Wightlink Raiders 1

Captain Sam Smith is loving life alongside Tamas Elias and Alan Armour in the Cardiff Fire team.

They led the charge for Fire in their 7-1 National League win against Wightlink Raiders at Ice Arena Wales with four goals and four assists between them.

Smith netted a goal with three assists, Elias weighed in with two plus one and Armour contribution was 1+1.

Leaders Fire swept to a convincing win against their second-placed visitors, who are a homeless club from the Isle of Wight.

They are playing on despite rink problems with their away games counting twice each time.

Wight link arrived in South Wales with hopes of earning a shock win, but Fire took their winning streak to 13 games in a row. They still boast a perfect record for 2016-17, stand top of the table and have qualified for the League Cup finals weekend in April.

Their fixture against Wightlink could scarcely have started any better for Fire, who went 1-0 ahead after only nine seconds when Sam Bryant netted.

The first shift for Fire’s second line saw them double their lead after two mins 30 seconds through Smith.

Fire seemed to relax a little over the next five minutes and Wightlink started to create opportunities.

Sean Richardson scored from one of those chances after five mins and the visitors continued to press. Netminder Luke Takel pulled off two fantastic saves from breakaways, keeping the Fire in front.

In the second period Jackson Price, fresh back from the university games, scored to give Fire a 3-1 lead after 26 minutes and then, three minutes later, Elias was on target.

Cardiff led 4-1 going into the third period and it was Elias who killed off Wightlink hopes when he scored his second with Smith and Armour providing assists.

A superb breakaway goal from Josh Haslam and another from Elias ended the game with an impressive 7-1 victory for Fire.

Fire play Swindon at home on Sunday, February 19 when victory will secure the league title for a second consecutive season.

This time, though, Fire are far more ambitious about their hopes and are aiming the triple crown of finishing number one in the league, winning the league cup and play-offs.

Following the match against Swindon at Ice Arena Wales (6pm), Fire will entertain Bristol Pitbulls on Sunday, February 26 (6pm) and then Wightlink again on Saturday, March 4 (6.30pm).

Their next away fixture is at Basingstoke the following evening (6.30pm).

Cardiff Fire: Tim Burrows, Sam Smith (capt), Jordan Baber, Alan Armour, Jordan Powell, Chris Hart, James Whiting, Tamas Elias, Daniel Self, Robert Sedlak, Niall Shanahan, Andrew Davies, Luke Takel (nm), Phil Manny, Ross Wilkinson, Sam Bryant, Jackson Price, Dan Blakemore, Josh Haslam, David Christian, Elis Sheppard, David Sadler.