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MANCHESTER, UK - JURAJ Faith bagged a brace as Manchester Phoenix recorded a vital 4-3 win over Peterborough Phantoms. The 35-year-old took his season tally to 14 last night as his side bounced back from a 5-3 loss at home to Guildford Flames on Saturday. Phoenix got off to a great start when Tom Duggan fired them ahead after just 63 seconds. Faith then scored twice in 89 second period seconds – tagging on to Ladislav Harabin and James Neil's feed for his first – before he used James Archer for the second. That made it 3-0 by the 23rd minute but Richard Bentham dragged the Phantoms back into it. It was a temporary blip as five minutes later Slava Koulikov grabbed his tenth of the season thanks to cute work from Duggan and Martin Cingel. Peterborough weren't going to give up though and they piled pressure on Stephen Fone's goal. He turned aside 17 of 18 shots in the period, but in the third Nathan Pollard added the home side's second. And on 51 minutes it was a one-goal game as Bentham notched his second before he was give a ten minute misconduct penalty. But Fone was equal to whatever was thrown at him and despite Damien King being pulled for the extra skater, Phoenix had done enough. On Saturday, it was an all too familiar story as Phoenix lost 5-3 to table-topping Guildford Flames – and lost ground in the title race. Missing the injured Tony Hand and Stephen Wallace as well as Josh Ward who was on GB duty, Manchester fell 4-1 behind midway through the second period before they almost pulled off a fantastic comeback. Phoenix dominated the early stages and forced Flames' goalie Mark Lee into two excellent early saves. But it was Guildford who broke the deadlock after 10 minutes when Branislav Kvetan shot past Stephen Fone. Nathan Rempel doubled the visitors' lead with a well-taken goal three minutes later but Tom Duggan pulled one back to give his side a chance heading into the intermission. That optimism was wiped out when former fan favourite Curtis Huppe bagged a third for the Flames just 23 seconds into the second. And it got worse as Rick Plant put Guildford 4-1 ahead just two minutes later. But gallant Phoenix, who also iced Andy Dunn, Jake Nurse and Jamie Rogerson from the Trafford Metros, hung on and Martin Cingel kept them at the races with an expertly taken powerplay goal. Ciaran Long then raised the roof just 47 seconds into the final period when he pulled the score back to 4-3. Manchester were completely dominant in the final stages, but couldn't find a way past Lee and with just 20 seconds left Fone was pulled and Jez Lundin fired into the empty net. The results leave Phoenix fifth, ten points behind Guildford in the English Premier League. They are also one point behind in the EPL Cup standings and will need to beat Milton Keynes at home next weekend and hope results go their way if they are to make the Semi Finals. To contact the author email: Mike.Appleton@prohockeynews.com © Copyright 2011 by Prohockeynews.com Top of Page |
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