Phoenix fall short against Peterborough

Saturday, 10th October 2015

Manchester Phoenix hosted the Peterborough Phantoms in Deeside on Saturday evening and welcomed back Slovakian star Stanislav Gron from injury.

A closely fought first period saw only one penalty awarded against Gron for tripping. Phoenix started brightly and James Archer was unfortunate to find the inside of the post before James Ferrara deflected a Milan Baranyk shot home at 13:34 to give the visitors the lead. Phoenix responded and Michal Satek levelled at 17:44 following some sustained pressure, when he slammed home Robin Kovar’s pass.

Peterborough put Phoenix under considerable pressure at the start of the second period, and Craig Scott came from behind the net to score on the backhand at 24:29. Ales Padelek then extended the visitors’ lead at 25:51 and Will Weldon made it 4-1 at 31:32. Phoenix rallied following a timeout and Satek scored his second on the rebound after a Kovar shot had been saved at 32:09 and was then denied a hat trick in the dying seconds of the period on a breakaway.

The third period began with a series of penalties and Phoenix were unable to capitalise on a couple of Powerplay opportunities before Lloyd Gibson wrapped up the points for Peterborough at 55:08 to make the final score 5-2.

Coach Tony Hand commented: “Peterborough are on a good run of form at the moment and they were clinical in front of goal. Our lines didn’t quite click tonight but we’ll look to put that right tomorrow.”

Phoenix are at home tomorrow night against the Hull Pirates, with a 6:30pm face-off in Deeside.