Manchester Phoenix 6 Bracknell Bees 2

Manchester Phoenix maintained their title push with a straightforward and comprehensive win over Bracknell Bees on Sunday night.

Phoenix had been knocked off top spot in the EPL during the week when title rivals Basingstoke Bison won a midweek game, and they fell further behind when they themselves went down to a crushing 5-1 defeat away at Bison on Saturday night.

Phoenix clearly had a ‘must-win’ attitude and pressured Bees from the start. Robin Kovar broke the deadlock after 10 minutes, but Bracknell are a tough proposition, and payer coach Lukas Smital tied the game with a goal for bees on 14 minutes. It was Phoenix player coach Tony Hand who made a crucial difference two minutes later when he skated free and hit a wrist shot past Bees’ goalie Alex Mettam to regain the lead for Phoenix.

James Archer grabbed a third for Phoenix just after the half way mark in the game, but Bracknell came back on 37 minutes with a great goal from Grant Rounding to make it 3-2 at the end of the second period.

Kovar hit his second goal just 49 seconds into the final period to make it 4-2, and the contest was ended with two goals in a minute for Phoenix. Andy McKinney scored on 48:54 and Frantisek Bakrlik wrapped up the scoring with a sixth for Manchester on 49:45.

The win leaves Manchester in second place, two points behind Bison with three games in hand< However, those games are about to catch up with Phoenix as they face two weekends that could define their season. First off, they play three games in three nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) next weekend with a home game against Swindon Wildcats on Sunday 2 March at 5:30pm.