Billingham Bombers 1 Phoenix U-16s 1.

Saturday saw the Manchester Phoenix Under-16s' make the long trip to Teeside needing to take something from a tough visit to Billingham if they wanted to keep their promotion playoff ambitions alive.

With a team weakened due to three players being suspended, the Phoenix youngsters took to their task with a determined attitude. Phoenix killed an early Bombers powerplay with some excellent fore-checking and were soon on their own first man-advantage. If their task was not hard enough, Phoenix suffered a cruel blow moments later when forward Tom Hammond was hit awkwardly on the boards and was forced the leave the game. The subsequent diagnosis confirmed a broken arm and Hammond will miss the remainder of the season. The Bombers, a bigger side physically than the Phoenix, were determined to put their numerical advantage to good us, but they were unable to dominate the visitors and Harry Sims had the best chance of a scoreless first session when he forced Mark Dodd in the bombers goal into an excellent save late in the period.

Following the loss of Hammond, Phoenix coach Paul Bayliss re-arranged his lines and the effort from the players if anything increased in intensity as they soaked up the early second period pressure from the Bombers. The concentration paid off when Bombers Toby Jackson was penalized and Phoenix again went on the powerplay as they peppered the home goal before Paul Swindlehursts' pass found Josh Healey to fire the visitors into a deserved lead. Having gained the lead, it was the turn of Phoenix goalie Adam Grisdale to take centre stage with some impressive saves. Play switched from end to end and Jordan Bannon had a great chance to increase the lead, narrowly missing the target. Bombers were playing the more physical game, but incurring penalties while the Phoenix team stuck to their game plan and effective counter-attacking style to take the lead into the second interval.

Billingham were desperate in their search for the equaliser and left themselves wide open to Phoenix raids which they were fortunate to survive on a number of occasions. However, when Bannon was penalized for Hooking in the 41st minute, Bombers finally broke the Phoenix resistance as a speculative long-range shot from Jack Chapman eluded Grisdale for the game-tying goal. Phoenix, despite being pegged back, continued to enjoy good scoring chances but neither side could break the deadlock in the remaining time.

A Phoenix spokesperson said: "Every Phoenix player can feel justly proud of this team effort. Every line worked hard to secure a valuable point and the result will boost the squad's confidence as they face a busy weekend ahead against league leaders Solihull and much-fancied Nottingham."