FORMER Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech put in a man of the match display during a debut appearance at Oxpens.
The 40-year-old Czech joined Chelmsford Chieftains in time for their clash against Oxford City Stars.
Stars were beaten 6-4 in the NIHL Division One South fixture, with netminder Cech grabbing the headlines.
He has stepped up a division to join Chieftains for the 2022/23 season, following a successful campaign with Guildford Phoenix, where he won everything on offer with a treble.
MAN OF THE MATCH | @chiefsicehockey
— Oxford City Stars 🏒⭐️ 💙 (@OxfordCityStars) November 6, 2022
Man of the Match for the visitors is #39 P. Cech
In his coach’s corner column, Stars head coach Simon Anderson said: “We ran into a Chelmsford team buoyed by the signing of an import netminder, who for me stole the game for them with a man of the match display.
“He will certainly win them games and I have no doubt their locker room will be a better and more professional place because of it, as he will bring that side of it from playing football at the highest level.”
Anderson added: “I think it’s a game we will look back on and know if we took our chances when they presented themselves it could have quite easily have been a different result.
“Our game plans, system of play and our identity are starting to show through and it won’t be long before we start turning the narrow losses into wins, I’m convinced of that.
“One thing we need to eradicate from our game is the way we seem to kill our momentum swings at times.
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“We score a goal and then become masters of our own downfall with a sloppy play in our end that results in a goal for the opposition.
“It’s something we have to stamp out to be successful for sure, and we will keep working hard to eliminate those mistakes.
“Offensively we created a tonne of chances, which is really encouraging – if we can just execute and put pucks away, it’s a different game and we are higher in the standings.”
Cech spent 11 years at Chelsea, winning every club honour possible, while surpassing Peter Bonetti’s clean sheet record for the club.
After collecting 13 major honours for the Blues, he joined Arsenal and added another FA Cup medal to his collection.
On signing Cech, Chieftains head coach Mark Saunders said: “Having a netminder of Petr’s quality and experience come into our squad is a huge boost for us right now.
“He brings a winning mentality, a desire to compete every single time he’s on the ice and we look forward to seeing him add to our group this campaign.”
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