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Walker double can't prevent Phoenix loss to Jets

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Manchester Phoenix 2 - 4 Slough Jets

A much-improved showing by the Manchester Phoenix wasn't enough to take victory from the Slough Jets on Sunday night. Phoenix fought back from a two-goal deficit thanks to a brace of markers from Adam Walker, but the in-form Jets added two third period strikes to take the points.

Phoenix were keen to erase the bad memory of their heavy loss in Milton Keynes on Saturday and were unlucky to fall behind inside five minutes on Sunday as Peter Poljacek shot the Jets into the lead. Phoenix fought back and carved a glorious opening that somehow neither Iain Bowie or Robert Lachowicz were able to convert. Both sides failed to make the most of their first powerplay opportunities, but the Jets capitalised on their second man advantage, Blaz Emersic on the mark for two-nil. Phoenix redoubled their efforts and when Ryan Watt was penalised for Slashing, they reduced the arrears on the resulting powerplay. Ed Courtenay out wide found Jaakko Hagelberg at the top of the slot and his bullet shot was sweetly deflected past Gregg Rockman in the Jets goal by Adam Walker.

With another Jets penalty hung over into the second period, Phoenix needed just 24 seconds to draw level and again it was Courtenay and Hagelberg with the assists for Walker to shovel home his 34th goal of the season, and it was game on. Buoyed by the equaliser, phoenix went in search of the lead, but needed to kill penalties against Andre Payette and captain Luke Boothroyd in order to keep the Jets at bay. With the score tied at 2-2 after forty minutes, the game was there for the taking and Phoenix spirits were high.

Disappointingly, the defensive frailties that have beset their campaign in recent games reared their ugly head again. Phoenix saw a shot come back off the Jets goalframe and the visitors broke quickly for Ciaran Long put them back in front just over three minutes into the final session. Ninety seconds later and the Jets had again opened up a two-goal margin as Andrew Munroe pounced. Try as they could, Phoenix were unable to find another way past Rockman in the visitors goal as they completed a clean sweep over the Phoenix in Altrincham this season.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand commented, "It wasn't for a lack of effort tonight, as by and large the team responded to the game plan I asked them to follow. We sat down beforehand and mapped out a pattern of play, we discussed the changes to the lines formations and things actually went moreorless to plan. What we cannot legislate for was losing Stephen Wallace in warm-up with the knee strain he picked up last night, a couple of poor defensive plays and our scoring touch appearing to have deserted us. We rotated three lines tonight, everyone got ice time, but things didn't go for us in certain areas."

"It's frustrating for me as a coach because we work hard in training, we do the video analysis, we talk about specific assignments and areas of concern, and then we get a couple of breakdowns and not a lot of luck goes our way. We can't rely on luck, but a break going our way once in a while would be nice."