Phoenix band-wagon keeps on rolling along

Sunday, 22nd September 2013

Manchester Phoenix 3 - Slough Jets 2

Phoenix scorers: Frantisek Bakrlik x 2, Michal Psurny.

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix completed their second 4point weekend in a row with a hard fought 3-2 win over Slough Jets.

Phoenix were at full strength and Slough were missing Ryan Watt and netminder Gregg Rockman who suffered a concussion in Saturday night’s game between the two clubs.

Phoenix took an early lead on 3.39 when Michal Psurny found Frankie Bakrlik free near the blue line and he ripped a shot top left over stand-in netminder Danny Milton’s glove hand. Phoenix were on top at this stage and it came as a bit of a surprise to the home fans when Slough equalised. Lee Richardson found Ales Padelek free on the blue line and he sent a speculative shot in on netminder Stephen Fone. The pace of the puck deceived the Phoenix goalie and Slough were back on level terms on 12.44. There was no further scoring in the period and Phoenix went for a cup of tea level at 1-1.

Slough were on top for long periods of the second stanza and only some big saves by Stephsn Fone kept the scores level. The period ended scoreless with the visitors outshooting their hosts by 14 shots to 10.

Phoenix took the lead with less than 3 minutes gone in the final period when James Neil sent the puck into the mix in front of goal and the puck found Frantisek Bakrlik, who netted his second of the game. Once again Slough showed their resilience with a second equaliser through Ciaran Long. The ex-Phoenix player was absolutely free in front of the goal and a crisp shot beat Stephen Fone for the second equaliser of the night.

The match winning goal came from a short-handed Phoenix marker on 52.14 as Frankie Bakrlik sat out a 2 minute hooking call. Robert Schnabel cleared the puck to Tony Hand who in turn sent Michal Psurny away down the right wing. The Czech forward made no mistake with a neat wrister to give Phoenix the lead for the third time. Slough worked hard to get back into the match but solid defence by Phoenix proved to be the key and, despite a couple of shocks, this was a very good win for Phoenix.

Man of the Match awards went to netminders Stephen Fone for Phoenix and Danny Milton for the Jets.

Manchester will look to increase their 4 game winning streak next weekend when, on Saturday 28th, they travel to Swindon to face the Wildcats and then back to the Dome for a Sunday encounter against Peterborough Phantoms, face off 1730hrs.