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Neil's late winner secures Phoenix four-point weekend

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Manchester Phoenix 4 - 3 Swindon Wildcats

A late winner from James Neil that went in off the underside of the crossbar secured the Manchester Phoenix a second win of the opening weekend of the English Premier League season.

A tight game that the Phoenix had dominated was tied at 3-3 after forty minutes and despite outshooting the visitors 35-19, appeared to be heading for overtime when the stand-in defenceman struck. From a face-off in the Wildcats zone, Andre Payette found James Neil on the right wing point and his rising blast through traffic hit the underside of the Swindon crossbar before nestling in the back of the net.

A well organised Swindon side matched the Phoenix through the opening exchanges as the home side looked a little jaded after the long trip to Basingstoke on Saturday and the only goal of the opening period went the visitors way in the 18th minute. With Jaakko Hagelberg in the penalty box, Swindon made the most of their second powerplay opportunity as Matt Foord applied the finishing touch to approach work from Kohut and Bullas.

Phoenix upped their workrate in the second session and drew level in the 27th minute as Hagelberg converted on assists from Ed Courtenay and Tony Hand. The goal kickstarted the game as the Wildcats regained their lead less than two minutes later as a clearance from Andre Mattson was picked off and Baird got the telling touch to a shot from Kohut. Phoenix drew level again within a minute, Courtenay picking up his fifth goal of the weekend assisted by linemates Hagelberg and Hand. However, Swindon didn't panic and once again edged ahead in the 33rd minute, Kohut the scorer and once again, Phoenix were chasing the game. The quick spell of scoring continued as the home side deservedly drew level for the third time in the 34th minute as Andre Payette won a face-off and found Andre Mattsson on the left wing point and the Swedish defencemans' shot pierced the defence of Woolhouse in the Swindon goal.

The final period saw Phoenix in almost total control, but struggling to find a way through a hard-working and well-organised Swindon rearguard with Woolhouse impressive in the visitors goal. With the spectre of overtime and penalties looming, both sides needed a moment of inspiration and the Phoenix found it with Neils' superb game-winning blast.

Phoenix coach Tony Hand noted, "I give the guys a lot of credit tonight for battling back. I thought we dominated the game, but Swindon made it difficult for us as they were well organised and well coached in their approach to the game. We've had two tough games and got a great start to the campaign with maximum points, so I have to be pleased. Overall, I'm pleased with the effort we got from the players this weekend and another week of training and getting used to each other will set us up for next weekends games away to Sheffield and at home to Milton Keynes."