David Oliver congratulates Matt Turner on a goal against Cardiff

Wight 1 Romford 3; Romford 8 Cardiff 4

Understrength Raiders kept the defence of their National League title alive with two impressive wins at the weekend.

Despite being without Andrius Kaminskas, JJ McGrath and Frankie Harvey, they travelled to the Isle of Wight on Saturday and battled their way to a hard-fought victory.

And Danny Marshall’s men overcame a brief wobble back on home ice last night to see off the challenge of Cardiff to complete a maximum four-point weekend haul.

Shane Kemp started between the pipes in Ryde and produced a man of the match display, making 42 saves in a 3-1 success.

The scoreline remained blank until the final minute of the second period, when AJ Smith broke the deadlock.

Juraj Huska doubled Romford’s lead early in the final session and, after Damon Larter replied for the hosts, sealed the points with a late powerplay goal.

Tempers boiled over in the closing minutes, as Shaun Yardley and Grant Taylor tussled with wight’s Alex Murray and Richard Facey.

But Romford returned home happy with their night’s work and took the lead with barely a minute gone against the Devils.

Huska opened the scoring, before Yardley doubled Romford’s lead on a powerplay.

Jordan Powell replied for Cardiff while Tom Davis served an interference minor and Stephen Deacon levelled after Davis went back to the penalty box.

Steve Osman netted Cardiff’s third powerplay goal of the night, early in the middle period, to give them the lead, but Raiders were back on terms through player-coach Danny Marshall, who then put his side ahead before the second break.

Huska and Matt Turner netted 21 seconds apart at the start of the final stanza and Turner went on to complete a natural hat-trick to make it 8-3.

Joe Morris replied with Cardiff’s fourth, as Billy Phillips served a tripping minor, and the scoreline remained unchanged in the last 13 minutes.

The gloves came off in the 59th minute, though, as Phillips, Davis and Shaun Wallis tangled with a combination of Gareth Dixon, Alastair Band and Ross Wilkinson to take the penalty count to 189 minutes.

Back-to-back wins allowed Romford to move level on points with Chelmsford at the top of the table, but the Chieftains have two games in hand.