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Phoenix squeezed out in Cardiff

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Despite taking a well-deserved lead in Cardiff on Thursday night, Manchester Phoenix returned home empty-handed from another hard fought game against the Devils.

Mark Bultje got a telling deflection on a Carl Greenhous shot in the tenth minute of a first period that the Phoenix dominated but came up against a Cardiff goalie determined to keep them at bay. The home side responded to his heroics by hitting the Phoenix with two goals in a minute to take a first interval lead. Devils increased their lead with a short-handed effort just past the half-hour mark and despite the Phoenix having the better of the play from that point, they could not force their way back into the game.

Coach Paul Heavey noted, “I thought we were the better side for the first fifteen minutes, but we got caught late in the first period and gave them two goals in quick succession. The short-handed goal on a bad turnover was the heartbreaker because we were not playing badly. Overall we worked hard, not quite as well as we did last weekend and some guys do have to pick their game up for the weekend. We’ve got two tough games coming up against Nottingham and Sheffield and everyone will have to give 100% if we’re to pick up some more vital points.”

Heavey added, “Cardiff is always a tough place to play, it’s a small ice pad and there’s nowhere to hide out there. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get anything from the game as we deserved to be in front and I was unhappy with the way we allowed them back into the game when Jayme Platt had not been in any serious action until they got their first goal.”