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In-form Sheffield too strong for Phoenix

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Steelers 4 - 3 Phoenix

Manchester Phoenix fought back bravely on Wednesday night only to lose out narrowly to the in-form Sheffield Steelers by the odd goal in seven.

Missing injured forward Ales Parez and not having played competitively for ten days, the lack of match sharpness for the Phoenix proved to be a major factor as the home side tore into them from the first face-off with Rod Sarich opening the scoring after just 65 seconds on the games first powerplay. Phoenix hit back just over four minutes later as Welshman Joe Miller equalised, but Sheffield were soon back in front as Regan Darby pounced to restore the lead in the eighth minute. Things looked ominous for Phoenix when Shane Johnson blasted home a third Steelers marker just past the ten-minute mark on a delayed penalty. Phoenix re-grouped and got through to the first interval trailing 3-1.

The second session started as badly as the first as Dan Tessier gave the Steelers a three-goal cushion just over a minute after the re-start. Phoenix again managed to calm things down at the back and gradually began to work their way back into the game with Jason Wolfe making some key saves to keep them in touch with the home side. Phoenix reduced the arrears on a 36th minute powerplay, as Johan Molin fired a low shot past Jody Lehman in the home goal. And the Swedish sniper added his second of the game two and half minutes later when he danced through the Steelers defence to repeat the low shot trick and give the travelling supporters hope.

Phoenix were back on track at the start of the third period, but were never quite able to put enough pressure on the Sheffield defence to cause undue panic, and Lehman in the home goal was comfortable for large periods. Phoenix had to kill off a two-man penalty early in the session with Wolfe again making two big saves to keep them in the hunt. But, the brave effort came up short and Phoenix will look to get back to winning ways on Sunday when they take on the Basingstoke Bison at the Altrincham Ice Dome.

Phoenix coach Tony Hand commented, "Sheffield are hot right now and they caught us cold, and at this level you can't afford to spot teams a three-goal lead. We played hard and battled well, but didn't quite have the level of intensity needed and we can put some of that down to a lack of games played in the past couple of weeks."