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Phoenix trampled by Bison

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Manchester Phoenix had their title ambitions checked with a double defeat to Basingstoke Bison.

Saturday's 4-1 loss down in Hampshire was compounded by a 3-2 overtime defeat at home on Sunday night.

The result at least gave Tony Hand's men a point from their endeavours, but he will be questioning how his side gave up a winning advantage with just 20 seconds left on the clock.

Leading 2-1 and on the Power play, Phoenix seemed to take a second off and in a flash Mindaugas Kieras had combined with Rick Skene to allow Steve Moria to shoot across Steve Fone's goal - and for the puck to creep in the net off the very unfortunate Pavel Gomenyuk.

Despite a shot from Ben Morgan rattling the pipes with five seconds left, Basingstoke killed off the remaining 28 seconds of the penalty in overtime and won the match courtesy of Ondrej Lauko's backhander. Before then, the match was a real rip-roarer with several big hits and big performances from both sides.

Missing Ladislav Harabin through an injury sustained by a slash the previous night, Phoenix belied their depleted status and flew straight into the Bison, finishing off their checks and whipping up a boisterous home crowd.

Bison's Andy Hemmings was the first in the bin for a crosscheck and although Manchester couldn't find a telling shot on the power play you felt they always had a chance of out-skilling a tough and physical Basingstoke.

And so it proved as half way through the eighth minute when Tony Hand dropped his shoulder, upped the pace and sent a pass from behind the net onto the stick of Marcus Kristoffersson who made no mistake. Basingstoke continued to press and after having a power play of their own killed, Viktor Kubenko levelled it up as Luke Boothroyd returned from the box.

Bison's Chris Wiggins continued his pantomime villain role late in the period, with a blindside hit that saw him spend two minutes in the bin for charging and later he would receive a two plus ten minute penalty for roughing and misconduct after he attempted to belittle the 'code' and get Kristoffersson to drop his gloves.

The second period saw the excellent Stephen Wallace go close, and Steve Fone made important saves from Hemmings and Lauko, while Dean Skinns was producing a man of the match display in the Bison net with a personal 'deny Kristofferson at all costs' crusade.

But once Wiggins went for his rest and was soon followed by Carl Graham, Phoenix had a 5 on 3 and weren't going to let it pass. Basingstoke killed the first penalty but barely had time to draw breath before Kristoffersson netted his second.

Phoenix had another chance in the third period on the man advantage to really put the game to bed but once again couldn't find a way past Skinns who turned aside 44 of 46 shots on the night.

And that unlikely power play impotence - considering how strong it has been all year - reared its head right at the end of the match as Moria and then Lauko put Basingstoke right in the title hunt.

On Saturday, Phoenix led early through the effervescent Kristoffersson, but found the tough Bison too much to handle on home ice, with Viktor Kubenko, Moria, Kieras and Ollie Bronnimann doing the damage on a night Manchester will want to forget.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand said: "We need to get back to doing the simple things really well. This has served us well so far but we’ve lost that focus somehow. These are two games we should have won, but we’ve come away from this weekend with just one point out of a possible four. That’s not the form I want from this team.

"We’ll work on the basics and learn from this weekend, and be ready to get back on track next weekend."

Phoenix will monitor Ladislav Harabin's injury during the week to see if he is fit enough to travel to Guildford this Saturday.