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Phoenix ENL 9 - 4 Bradford Bulldogs
Phoenix ENL 9 - 4 Bradford Bulldogs
Manchester Phoenix finally broke their duck on Sunday November 18th with a long-awaited first win of the season as they defeated the Bradford Bulldogs in the Yorkshire outfits own building.
The Phoenix have been steadily improving after a rocky start to their first campaign and had lost narrowly at home on Saturday night against arch-rivals, Blackburn. But, against Bradford, Phoenix hit the ground running and raced into a 4-0 first period lead. The Bulldogs though dug in and forcing Phoenix into penalties, the home side twice took advantage of the extra skater to reduce the deficit to two at the first interval.
Where the first session had been highly encouraging, the second was less so as the Phoenix continued to fall foul of the referee taking too many penalties and allowing Bradford two further markers. Phoenix recovered with two of their own to maintain a two-goal spread after forty minutes.
The Phoenix coaching staff read the team something of a mini riot act in the second interval in an effort to try to eliminate the needless penalties, and the team responded well. Their play in the final session was much more composed and re-assured and their confidence grew as Aran Richardson, James Rogerson and a tremendous coast-to-coast solo effort by Danny Binns put paid to the Bulldogs resistance and brought with it the two vital points.