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Phoenix take the sting out of the Bees tail

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Bracknell Bees 2 - Manchester Phoenix 6

J Davidson Manchester Phoenix travel to Bracknell missing Stephen Wallace and the playing services of Tony Hand. A number of the playing staff have been stricken with a sickness bug but are dressing for the game and are expected to play.

Phoenix and Bees traded penalties in the first ten minutes of the game without troubling the scorer but Phoenix took advantage of their second man advantage when Slava Koulikov opened the scoring on 16.05 assisted by Luke Boothroyd and Juraj Faith. End of the first period 1-0 to the visitors.

Phoenix doubled their lead on 25.47 when Juraj Faith netted with assists credited to Slava Koulikov and Martin Cingel. This seemed to trigger the Bees physical side and Josh Ward was flattened by Scott Spearing with no penalty given. Faith then hit the post but it was not long before Phoenix made it 3-0. Tom Duggan scored on the next play with assists going to Luke Boothroyd and James Archer. More overly physical play by the Bees usual suspects Galazzi and Watchorn and they both sat out minors at 32.19. Jaroslav Spelda hit one of his usual rockets from the blue line on the powerplay to give Phoenix a 4-0 lead. Bees managed to kill the rest of the penalty. Lukas Smital pulled a goal back on 35.57. The Bees then had a two man advantage but Phoenix held their nerve and killed off the long penalty. Just as it was ending Luke Boothroyd dropped the gloves ( yes, you read that correctly) with Scott Spearing and both sat out 4 minutes for roughing. Spearing also collected 2 minutes for hodling. At the same time Carl Graham picked up 2 minutes for slashing and Juraj Faith scored on the powerplay, assisted by Slava Koulikov and James Archer. End of the second and a comfortable 5-1 lead for Phoenix.

Bees changed their netminder at the start of the third with Tom Annetts replacing Carl Ambler. The period was littered with penalties and Bees took advantage of one such penalty on 54.37 when Alex Barker scored. With less than a minute remaining in the game Martin Cingel scored after good work from Slava Koulikov and Juraj Faith to give Phoenix a 6-2 win.

Coach Hand said after the game: “The lads played well tonight and kept their discipline and took their chances. A couple of the boys have got a bit of a bug but they played through it for a good team performance.

“Bracknell are a tough team at home and have picked up some good results at the Hive so it was good to bring home the points in what was a vital cup game as well as a league match.”