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Phoenix snatch defeat from jaws of victory

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Having fought back from two-nil behind at the end of the first period against Belfast last night and taken the lead on goals from George Awada, Mark Bultje and Darcy Anderson, the Manchester Phoenix somehow contrived to give two late goals to the visitors and with them the two valuable points on offer.

Giants opened the scoring through player/coach Rob Stewart and doubled their lead on Mark Morrison’s first goal as a Giant before the first interval. Phoenix dominated the second session and drew level on strikes from Awada and Bultje, his second in two games since joining the club. In the third period, with Belfast tiring, Phoenix appeared to sown up the points as Darcy Anderson gave them the lead but two mistakes in the defensive zone gifted Belfast an equaliser through Paxton Schulte and a winner to Paul Sample with less than four minutes left to play.

Phoenix head coach Rick Brebant expressed his disappointment saying, “we had the game won and two errors cost us two goals and we weren’t able to react in the time left on the clock. We didn’t play well in the opening exchanges but we came on stronger in the second period and really took the game to them. We deserved to get on level terms and I thought when the go-ahead goal went in from Darcy, we would get the points.”

Even more disappointingly for Phoenix fans was the news that Basingstoke Bison and Cardiff Devils both won on Sunday night – victories that lifted them above Phoenix in the Elite League table. Phoenix though, have valuable games in hand on both of them and will need to make those games count in the hunt for a playoff berth.