A short benched Widnes Wild team were beaten at home by a rampant Nottingham Lions team by five goals to two.

Looking to bounce back from their 9-0 loss to Blackburn Hawks the night before, the Wild started off to a flyer scoring just 34 seconds in but it all went downhill from there with five consecutive goals conceded and after a controversial second period the away side went on to pick up the two points.

When it comes to key moments and players it’s hard to look anywhere other than Lions duo Zach Yokoyama and Tyler Somerton who were near enough unplayable at times with the latter picking up the man of the match award.

Widnes started the first period fast and energetic looking to correct their lacklustre loss in the M56 derby in Blackburn. Will Harper got the hosts off to the perfect start 34 seconds into the game, with a give and go catching out the Lions defence as he glided into the left sided circle and roofed it past Luca Sheldon.

Their lead didn’t last long as the East Midlands outlet didn’t waste any time scoring seconds into their power play with a lovely left handed finish from the point over the right hand shoulder of Phil Pearson by James Mather.

The Lions went on to take the lead from a quick turnover resulting in Dan Martin skating through the slot and cancelling out that rapid start from the Wild.

The Lions came out of the break meaning business, putting on a real onslaught but Widnes managed to hold off. The only chance of the early minutes was Mikey Gilbert nearly tapping home into an open net but a vital stick lift from Mather stopped a certain leveller.

After a few Widnes opportunities and seemingly growing into the game, Lions finally bit back with a great attack resulting in Somerton drifting down the left and smashing the puck into the net letting out a ding that could be heard all around Merseyside, giving his team a two goal cushion.

Not long after they got another one after Toby Fisher took a quick shot at Pearson who saved but it ricocheted straight to Yokoyama who tapped it in the practically empty goal. The Widnes players were furious with the officials as they believed the goal should have been ruled out but they were having none of their complaints and the goal stood.

Harper must have been especially angry with Yokoyama as a few minutes later he was penalised when he shoved him in the face while the player was on his knees sending his helmet up in the air and landing on the ice.

Sheldon was not happy about what happened to his teammate going over to the Wild player and began taunting him but Harper had the last laugh as the netminder was then also penalised.

The third started as the rest of the game with the Lions dictating and the wild struggling to cope with them, just minutes in and it looked like Somerton had grabbed their fifth and his second as it looked like it went in and came out the net but no light so no goal.

It wasn’t long later when Luke Birchnall actually got the fifth at the back post and he wheeled off celebrating going down to one knee and wiping the ice right in front of the disappointed local fans, really putting the game to bed.

Yokoyama was dancing around the ice leaving defenders for dead especially down the right side forcing Pearson to make two good saves. He could easily have had a hat-trick.

The period was drifting to a close, until a first goal in Wild colours for Flynn Massie who added a great last minute consolation, a wrist shot in the top right corner through a Lions body leaving Sheldon unsighted.

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