News

Swindon rally late to see off Phoenix

Tweet

Manchester Phoenix welcomed back James Neil for the trip to Swindon however Jacob Corson-Heron missed out through injury.

Swindon were given an early opportunity to take the lead when the referee awarded a penalty shot after 3:03 however Steve Fone made an excellent save to deny Tomasz Malasinski.  From the resulting face-off however, Aaron Nell did put the home side in front at 3:13.  Fone had to be sharp on a number of occasions in the first period, with one particularly good stop from Carlo Finucci as the first period ended 1-0.

Phoenix exerted more pressure on the Swindon goal as the second period wore on, and during a 4 on 4 situation, a right wing pass from Robin Kovar was tipped home by Stanislav Gron to level the scores at 31:28.  Swindon responded immediately as Matt Selby found the top corner at 33:01, and the lead was extended as a deflected Jonas Hoog pass from behind the net was deflected in at 36:18.  Kovar however kept Phoenix in the game as he fired under Stevie Lyle at 38:04 to make the score 3-2.

Phoenix worked hard to level the score in the final period, and Lyle made a good save from Martin Baranek, but the pressure was rewarded at 53:41 when Lyle couldn’t hold a powerful drive from Martin Satek, and in the resulting goalmouth scramble, Satek forced the puck in.

Phoenix were undone in the final minutes however as Malasinski tipped in a Nell shot at 55:04 before Jan Kostal wrapped up the win on 57:52 as the game ended 5-3.  Steve Fone was named man-of-the-match for Phoenix following an excellent performance, producing 43 saves.

Phoenix are on the road again tonight when they visit the Peterborough Phantoms with a 5:30pm face-off.