Chelmsford Chieftains enjoyed their biggest crowd of the season with over 900 packing into Riverside Ice & Leisure for a thrilling battle against Essex rivals Romford Raiders on Sunday.

Chieftains welcomed back captain Jake French after his shoulder injury, but were without Jon Main, who was injured at Blackburn on Saturday.

Chieftains took the lead on 4.40 when Andy Hannah's pass found Richard Whiting who hit a spectacular backhander high past Mikko Nurminen in the Raiders' goal.

Raiders responded at 6.33 after Chieftains failed to clear their zone and ex-Chieftains Ben Pitchley hit a shot past Pinchin in the Chieftains' net.

With Hannah in the bin for tripping and Mike Linsley also on a minor penalty, Raiders on a 5 on 3 powerplay took the lead via another ex-Chieftain, Danny Marshall.

Chieftains bounced back when Karl Rogers scored by an unguarded post.

The second period started with Chieftains on a power-play, but as has happened on several occasions this season, they fell to a sloppy short-handed goal through Timo Kauhanen at 20.2.

The game started to boil over and referee Aaltonen awarded several minor penalties before Raiders went two goals ahead with a good strike by Jon Beckett.

The game blew up at 38.50 when goalie Nurminen seemed to instigate what turned out to be a minor brawl which saw a Raiders player leave his bench to join in.

When the melee died down, the game was held up for over ten minutes while the officials decided what to do, and eventually agreed to end the period early.

When the match returned and the penalties had been decided, Chieftains Andy Hannah and Karl Rogers, along with Raiders' Russell Bishop and Scott Wright, were thrown out of the game. Three other players were given minor penalties for their part in the incident but Nurminen escaped punishment.

Chieftains found themselves on a power-play from the decisions and took advantage of the situation with Dave Heavey forcing the puck in through a ruck of players.

Chieftains poured forward throughout the last period and only the heroics of Nurminen kept the scoreline as it was.

Chieftains hit the post and had shots scrambled away, but finally netted an equaliser at 54.19 when good linking play from Heavey and Sarkiniemi found Cotton who tucked the puck away.

The last minutes were hectic, but the score remained at 4-4.

Chieftains visit Wightlink Raiders on Saturday and on Sunday they host title favourites Solihull Blaze. (Face off is at 6.30pm).

Coming through . . action from Sunday's English Premier League match between Chelmsford Chieftains and Romford Raiders at the Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre in Chelmsford.

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