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Phoenix consolidate top spot

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Manchester Phoenix 5 Milton Keynes Lightning 2

Manchester Phoenix consolidated their position at the top of the English Premier League on Sunday night, with a comprehensive victory over reigning league champions Milton Keynes Lightning.

In a game that was fast, skilful and extremely entertaining from start to finish, both sides were bolstered by a noisy atmosphere in the Altrincham Ice Dome. As has previously been the case, a large home crowd was supplemented by a superb turnout from MKL’s huge, boisterous travelling support, which created a cracking atmosphere all game.

Phoenix were missing suspended Ladislav Harabin, while MKL were without Wiklander and Kalgoum.

Phoenix took the lead after just three minutes when Marcus Kristoffersson blasted a shot past Alex Mettam in the Lightning goal which was very much against the run of play in the early stages. James Archer doubled the lead after nearly ten minutes with an all-too-rare Phoenix power play goal.

Lightning pulled a goal back on the power play after 17 minutes when Leigh Jamieson swept home a pass from Nick Poole.

Phoenix extended their lead at the start of the second period with a goal from Stephen Wallace, and went further ahead a minute later after an uncharacteristic howler from MKL goalie Mettam. A speculative, weak shot from Ben Morgan was being turned behind the net by Mettam to start a Lightning attack, but somehow Mettam accidentally steered the puck through his own legs and into his net to make it 4-1.

Instead of knocking MKL for six, though, this spurred them on to apply even more pressure, and they dominated for large parts of the second period. It was no surprise when Andre Smulter scored a second for Lightning after 24 minutes, and for the remainder of the second period the Phoenix defence and Steve Fone in the Phoenix goal were at full stretch to keep Lightning at bay.

It was a cruel, cruel blow to MKL at the end of the second period when a further error by Mettam effectively put the game out of reach. Man of the match Wallace again took the puck forward on his own, and his precise but speculative shot from a wide angle hit Mettam’s glove, only to slip through and into the net.

The clearly distraught Mettam was replaced by Barry Hollyhead for the third period, and MKL again pressed for a goal that could give them a way back in, but the Phoenix defence was resolute. An excellent game that was closer than the scoreline suggests drew to a close, and Phoenix took a three-point lead at the top of the EPL.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand said: “That was an excellent win for us, against one of the most difficult teams to play against in this league. “We knew Milton Keynes would be strong and we were right, but we took the chances when they came, and we got two extremely lucky goals.

“Our defence had to be on top of their game, and there were a number of candidates for man of the match tonight.”