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Phoenix ease past Capitals

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Phoenix 6 - 1 Capitals

Manchester Phoenix cruised past a sickness affected Edinburgh Capitals side on Wednesday night with a performance that was efficient if not spectacular.

Edinburgh arrived in Manchester with just eleven players including injured Dino Bauba and bolstered their squad by drafting in three players, Alan Hough, Mark Lovell and Richard Hughes from the Flintshire Freeze of the English National League.

After a bright start by the Capitals, Phoenix soon got the scoreboard moving as KC Timmons shot them in front in the sixth minute. Adam Walker with a sweet finish off a Matt Rich feed made in two-nil in the eighth minute and just past the midway point of the period, Anthony Battaglia steered home a third. Edinburgh were in danger of being over-run, but Phoenix didn't press home their superiority and no further scores ensued before the first break.

Edinburgh battled as best they could with their depleted line-up and stunned the home fans by pegging a goal back in the 29th minute as Pavel Kowalczyk completed a good move with a deft finish. The goal though, merely stung the Phoenix into moving up a gear and Timmons on a powerplay and Simon Mangos stretched the Phoenix lead to 5-1 at the second interval.

Phoenix seemed reluctant to keep the goal-scoring going in the final period and it wasn't until the 58th minute that the home crowd roared their approval of another blueline blast from David Vychodil that completed a one-sided score line.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand commented, "That wasn't one of better performances as it's sometimes difficult to get going when you know the opposition is weakened. But, we got the job done, got the two points and we'll look to improve the manner of the performance on Thursday."

Hand closed saying, "Thursday will see us give Matt Compton the start in goal. He's been very patient all season long and deserves his chance to play. He'll get the whole game on Thursday so we hope the fans will get right behind him while Wolfie has a night off."