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Tigers vs Phoenix

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Telford Tigers 3 - Manchester Phoenix 4

Phoenix scorers: Ladislav Harabin, Martin Cingel x 2 and Tony Hand.

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix made the short journey to Shropshire for a return EPL fixture against the Telford Tigers. Phoenix iced still without Slava Koulikov and Jaroslav Spelda.

Phoenix dominated the first period and will be disappointed to go to the first break on level terms with their hosts. Phoenix took the lead on 4.09 when Ladislav Harabin took a pass from James Archer and blasted the puck past Declan Ryan. Tigers equalised on 6.32 when the Phoenix defence failed to pick up their men and Ryan Selwood put the puck past Stephen Fone, assisted by Scott McKenzie.

More Phoenix pressure brought their second goal on 8.58 as Tony Hand sent a superb pass to Martin Cingel in front of goal and he made no mistake. Phoenix controlled play and brought a few good saves from the Telford netminder before they lost Martin Cingel to a mysterious holding the stick call on 18.05. Once again the Phoenix rearguard was not up to the task and Vince Connon hit the game tying goal through traffic into the net on 19.35. End of the first, 2-2.

The second period was much of the same. Phoenix dominating, scoring and then losing a soft goal. The visitors took the lead for the third time in the match on 21.21 with a goal from Martin Cingel, assisted by Tony Hand and Ladislav Harabin. A defensive mix up between Ben Wood and Ladislav Harabin allowed Scott McKenzie to pick up the loose puck and shoot past Fone for Telford’s third equaliser. Half way through the period, Martin Cingel worked hard behind the goal, passed to Juraj Faith who in turn found Tony Hand all alone in front of goal and Phoenix had their fourth lead of the night. No more goals but some end to end play to finish the period at 4-3 to Phoenix.

The third period was end to end with both teams testing the goalies. Although there were no goals, both sets of fans had plenty to shout about. Final score 4-3 to Phoenix.

A 4 point weekend for Phoenix who gained a bit of ground on Guildford. Now we move on to a tough weekend against Sheffield and Slough in our quest to defend the title.